Effects of Mint Powder on Microbial Population, Carcass Characteristics and Performance of Broiler Chickens Fed Diets Containing Wheat

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of mint powder added to diet with different levels of wheat on performance، microbial population and carcass characteristics of broiler chickens. A total of 384 Ross male broiler chickens were used in a completely randomized design in a 4×2 factorial arrangement with 4 replicates (floor pens) and 12 birds each. Birds were fed diets containing two levels of ground mint (0 and 2%) and four levels of wheat (0، 10، 15 and 20%) during 7- 42 days of age. The results indicated that supplementation of mint powder and dietary wheat levels had no significant effect on body weight، gain، feed intake، feed conversion ratio and carcass characteristics of broiler chickens during experimental period. Feeding diets supplemented with mint powder did not significantly affect the length of small and large intestines. Broilers fed diets supplemented with mint powder had significantly lower total aerobic bacterial count as well as coliform count in the ileal contents. However، the number of lactobacilli was not significantly affected by the mint supplement. Significantly interaction between mint powder and wheat was observed in ileum microflora، total aerobic bacteria، coliforms، and lactobacillus.