Effects of turmeric rhizome extracts on growth performance, blood biochemical parameters, and immune organ indexes of Wenchang broiler chickens

The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of increasing dietary levels of turmericrhizome extract(TRE) on growth performance, blood biochemical parameters and immune organ index-es of Wenchang broiler chickens. Three hundred, 1-day-old Wenchang broiler chickens were brood-ed together for 2 weeks, and then randomly allocated into four treatment groups with five replicates of15 birds each. Birds were fed a basal diet of corn and soybeans supplemented with TRE at 0, 100,200 mg/kg and 300 mg/kg for 12 weeks. The results revealed that a TRE-supplemented diet increasedthe growth performance of birds from 9 to 12 week. Diet supplementation with TRE at 100 to 300 mg/kghad no significant effect(P>0.05) on the blood biochemical parameters of birds. However, diet supple-mented with TRE increased the organ indexes of thymus and bursa of birds. In conclusion, dietaryTRE supplementation increased the growth performance and enhanced the development of immune or-gans of Wenchang broiler chickens.