Abstract
BACKGROUND: Recently, attention has been paid to using plants with medicinal efficacy as alternates to antibiotics and growth promoters. Garlic is a traditional plant used as a spice and herb in broilers. AIM: To investigate the effect of garlic powder on broiler performance, carcass characteristics, blood hematology, and biochemistry. METHOD: A total of 240 1-day-old broiler chicks (Cobb500) were purchased from a local hatchery and randomly distributed into four dietary treatments. Each treatment comprised 5 replicates with 12 chicks each. Garlic powder (Allium sativum) was supplemented as follows: 0.0%, 0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.3%. The diets were formulated to be approximately isocaloric and cover all nutrient requirements for broilers throughout two stages of growth periods: starter diets (1-21 days) and finisher diets (22-42 days). At the end of the experiment, one bird was chosen from each replicate to measure the carcass characteristics and blood was collected. RESULTS: The findings showed that birds fed a diet supplemented by 0.3% garlic powder was significantly (p < 0.05) better in terms of body weight, body weight gain, and feed conversion ratio compared to those birds fed 0%, 0.1%, or 0.2% garlic powder. In addition, feeding 0.1% or 0.2% garlic powder significantly increased (p < 0.05) packed cell volume, total white blood cells, neutrophil, eosinophil, monocyte, and lymphocyte compared to the control group. Furthermore, garlic supplementation led to a decrease in alanine aminotransferase, total cholesterol, triglycerides, and low density lipoprotein compared to the control. At the same time, high density lipoprotein was significantly increased (p < 0.05) by garlic supplementation. CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that the supplementation of 0.3% garlic powder as a growth promoter leads to reducing the cost of production through improving growth performance and enhancing birds' health.