Effect of using dill (Anethum graveolens) whole plant powder on performance of some blood parameters, and skeletal system of broilers

To investigate the effects of the whole dill plant powder different levels on performance of some blood parameters and tibial characteristics of broilers, 200 one-day-old male chicks (Ross-308) were used in a completely randomized design with four treatments and five replicates (10 chicks per replicate). Chicks were randomly distributed among the experimental treatments including 0, 0.5, 0.1, and 0.2% levels of whole dill plant powder. In regards to feed intake and weight gain during the entire growing period, the treatments contained 1% and 2% of dill plant powder had the highest and the lowest feed intake, respectively, and treatments containing 0.5% dill powder and control group were in the middle of the first two treatments (P<0.05). In terms of feed conversion ratio, the only significant difference observed between treatments throughout the entire experimental period was a significant increase in the amount of feed conversion ratio in the chicks treated with 2% dill plant powder. Serum alkaline phosphatase concentration showed a significant increase in both assessing periods (21 and 42 days) for the 2% dill plant powder treatment compared to the other experimental treatments (P<0.05). Serum calcium and phosphorus concentrations were not affected by experimental diets. The weight, length, width, and ash percentage of the tibial bone did not show any significant difference between the experimental treatments. The results of this study showed that using 1% of dill plant powder in broiler chicken diets, while improving growth performance, did not have any adverse effect on skeletal growth and development of chickens.