Evaluation effect of copper-methionine chelate, oregano essential oil on performance, meat quality, immune response and blood biochemical parameters of broiler chickens

The effect of copper-methionine chelate and oregano essential oil in comparison to antibiotics on performance, meat quality, immune response and blood biochemical parameters were evaluated using 240 Ross 308 broilers in a 2×2×2 factorial experiment in a completely randomized design with four replicates and 10 birds per replicate. The treatments included three incremental levels (No additives, 500 mg/kg flavofospholipol antibiotics and 100 mg/kg oregano essential oil of diet) and copper-methionine chelate (0 and 118 mg/kg diet). At the end of the period (42th day), one male bird was sampled from each replicate for exploring meat quality, immune response and blood biochemical parameters. Birds fed a diet containing coppermethionine chelate with flavophospholipol showed higher live weight (P<0.05). Birds fed a diet containing copper-methionine chelates had higher weight gain and better conversion ratio (P<0.05). Also, birds fed diets without additives and antibiotics with and without copper-methionine chelates had more fatty acid oxidation than other groups (P<0.05). At 28 and 42 days of age, the highest immune response (antibody titer) was observed in the copper-methionine chelate group with oregano essential oil (P<0.05). It was shown that oregano essential oil decreased and increased LDL and HDL in the blood (P <0.05), respectively. The results of this study showed that the use of copper-methionine chelate with antibiotics improved production efficiency and the use of copper-methionine chelate and oregano essential oil supplements in poultry diets improve meat quality and increased safety.