Assessment of green tea and/or ginger powder on growth performance, carcass traits, and blood profiles of broilers exposed to heat stress conditions for sustainable broilers farming

Abstract

Present study is designed to assess the influence of supplementation with green tea powder (GTP) and/or ginger powder (GP) supplementations on various aspects of the welfare and productivity of chicks aged 1 to 5 weeks, exposed to high ambient temperatures ranging from 30.3 to 40.7°C for sustainable broiler production. Specifically, the study analyzes development indices, carcass characteristics, hematological parameters, and economic efficiency to determine whether these supplements can mitigate the negative effects of extreme heat, thereby improving the overall health and productive performance of the animals. A 3 x 3 factorial arrangement was carried out, including 9 experimental groups with 3 levels of adding GTP (0, 0.15 and 0.30%) and 3 levels of GP (0, 0.50 and 0.10%). A total of 450, mixed sex strain Cobb-500 broilers were homogenously distributed to 9 grouping, each consisting of 5 replications of 10 chicks with similar initial body weights. The findings demonstrated a marked (P<0.05) increase in growth when chicks were fed diets supplemented with GTP at 0.3%. The feed conversion ratio (FCR) improved considerably due to 0.15 and 0.30 GPT supplementation in comparison to the control group. The economic efficiency increased gradually as the GPT level rose and when GP was added at 0.5% in comparison to the control group. Use of GTP resulted in a significant increase in total serum proteins and globulins, as well as a decrease in AST. There was a considerable rise in total plasma proteins and globulin and a decrease in AST due to use of GTP; in contrast, HDL was significantly decreased. At the same time, globulin increased only due to GP supplementation; however, glutamate-oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT) and glutamate pyruvate transaminase (GPT) decreased. In conclusion, 0.15% GTP showed beneficial results on development indices, the animal's corpse traits, and blood metabolites of chicks from 7–35 days of age under heat stress conditions, although 0.30% GTP resulted in the highest economic efficiency and sustainable broiler farming.