Effect of pomegranate seed pulp with enzyme and its processing with urea on performance, blood biochemical parameters and immunity response of heat stressed broiler chicks

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of pomegranate seed pulp (PP) and its treated form with urea (PPTU) on performance, blood biochemical parameters and immune response of broiler chickens reared in heat stress condition. A total of 280 day-old Ross 308 chicks were used in a completely randomized design. The chicks were equally divided into seven treatments including 0, 3, 6 and 9 percent of PP and 3, 6 and 9 percent of PPTU with four replicates and 10 birds each. In heat stress period (25-42 days), the daily heat stress schedule was applied from 10:00 until 17:00 h for seven hours (35-37 oC). The PPTU increased the blood concentration of total protein (11 vs. 15.7 mg/dL). In heat-stressed chickens, PP increased body weight (1498 vs.1020 g) and decreased feed conversion ratio (1.82 vs. 2.56). The PP decreased the blood glucose concentration (611 vs. 1106 mg/dl) and also decreased the activity of the liver enzymes including alkaline phosphatase (1667 vs. 6483 U/L), aspartate aminotransferase (259.9 vs. 674.8 U/L) and lactate dehydrogenase (1506 vs. 3288 U/L). The immune response to SRBC in chickens fed PP with enzymes (9.25) or its urea-treated (8.5) were higher as compared to control (6.75). Therefore, these findings showed that the addition of pomegranate pulp with enzyme or its treated with urea up to 9% may improve performance, immune response and decreased the activity of liver enzymes in heat stressed broilers.