Abstract
This study was conducted to investigate the effect of Chamomile flower powder (CFP) on performance traits, lipid profile and morphology jejunum of Japanese quail from 7 to 35 days of age. A total of 200 7-day-old male Japanese quail were as randomly distributed to 5 treatments, with 4 replicates, and 10 birds in each pen. The experimental treatments included (T1) a control diet (treated with basal diet only), (T2-T5) basal diet supplemented with of 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 % of CFP, respectively. Live body weight (LBW) and Feed intake (FI) were determined weekly, and then feed conversion ratio (FCR) was calculated. At the end of the study 5 birds with an average weight close to the same treatment were selected from each experimental treatment andblood and intestine (jejunum section) samples were collected at 35 days of age for further analysis. Blood samples were collected from the axillary vein and poured into test tubes without heparin. Blood serum was centrifuged and stored at -20ºC until testing. Then, the birds were slaughtered and after opening the abdominal cavity, a section (3 cm) from the middle part of the jejunum was separated and kept in 10% formalin (pH=7.2) to study the jejunum morphology. The results showed that live body weight, feed intake and feed conversion ratio were significantly improved (P<0.05) in the birds CFP-fed compared to the control. The addition of 1% and 1.5% CFP (T3 and T4) to the basal diet showed the best performance results. The level of HDL was significantly (P<0.05) decreased in the birds fed CFP (T3 and T4) compared to the control. Other lipid profile parameters were not significantly (P>0.05) affected by the CFP used, although the results showed a numerical trend of decrease compared to the control. Villus height and depth crypt of the bird jejunum significantly increased (P<0.05) compared to the control. In conclusion, these results suggest that dietary supplementation with 1% and/or 1.5% CFP has beneficial effect on growth performance, lipid profile and jejunum morphometric of quails.