Effect of Dried Surplus White Mulberries and Multi-Enzyme on Growth Performance, Blood Biochemical Indices and Intestinal Morphology of Broiler Chickens

Nutrition and feedstuffs are the main part of the costs in the breeding of roiler chicekn. Introduce of new feedstuffs and agricultural wastes as part of the diet can be an effective step in reducing production costs. The use of dried surplus mulberry due to its valuable nutrients can be effective in poultry nutrition.The purpose of this experiment was to investigate the effects of using different levels of dried surplus mulberry and multi-enzyme supplementation on growth performance, carcass characteristics, blood indices, immune response and intestinal morphology in broiler chickens.

Three hundred twenty 1-day-old Ross 308 broiler chicks were used in a completely randomized design with factorial arrangement. The experimental treatments included 4 levels of mulberry (0, 2.5, 5, 7.5- %) and 2 levels of multi-enzyme (0 and 0.1%). Eight dietary treatments had 4 replicates and 10 birds in each replicate. At 42 days of age, 2 chickens were slaughtered from each replicate and blood samples and carcass coonents were taken. In order to evaluate the intestinal morphology, a 1 cm piece of chickens's jejunum was collected and fixed in formalin.

Resutls: 

The results were revealed that interaction effects in diet contained 7.5% of dried surplus mulberry compared to 2.5% of mulberry increased the amount of feed intake at the starter period (0-10 days; p<0.05). The carcass efficiency was higher in birds fed 2.5% of mulberry compared to other treatments. The treatment with 5 and 7.5% dried surplus mulberry with enzyme decreased abdominal fat percentage and increased the percentage of burs of fabricus, spleen and anti-SRBC titer compared to control group (p<0.05). The carcass efficiency and abdominal fat percentages were affected by the enzyme supplementation (p<0.05). The treatments of 5 and 7.5% dried surplus mulberry with enzyme, increased the villus height and absorption area of intestine in comparison to control group (p<0.05). The interaction effects of dried surplus mulberry and multi-enzyme were significantly decreased cholesterol, LDL and increased HDL concentration in comparison to control group (p<0.05).

It is concluded that using dried mulberry surplus with enzyme may decrease blood lipid and improve immune response and intestine morphology without effect on growth performance of broiler chickens.