EFFECT OF ADDING DIFFERENT LEVELS OF ONION (Allium cepa linn) POWDER TO BROILER DIETS ON THE PHYSIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Abstract

Between October 15, 2021, and November 26, 2021, this study was carried out in the broiler field at the College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences, University of Baghdad in Abu Ghraib to examine the effects of adding various dosages of onion powder, "Allium cepa linn", to broiler chicks' diets on the physiological characteristics. The experiment employed 225 unsexed (Ross 308) one-day-old broiler chicks with an average weight of 40g. A total of 225 chicks were divided into 5 treatments by three replicates in each treatment with 15 chicks per replicate randomly. The experimental treatments were as follows: The chicks were first fed starter ration from one day old to 21 d  old, after which they were fed a finisher diet from 22 to 42 d old. The treatments were described as T1 (control treatment):  basal diet without onion powder addition, T2: basal diet with 2g/kg of onion powder/kg of feed, T3: basal diet with …….. 4g/kg of feed of onion powder as part of the T3 treatment. Both the T4 treatment and the T5 treatment added onion powder at rates of 6g and 8g per kilogram of feed, respectively. The experiments findings suggested the following: There was a significant decrease (P<0.05) in the level of serum cholesterol concentration for the T2 treatment compared to that of the T1 controlled treatment. However, the T2 treatment did not differ significantly with the T3, T4 and T5 treatments. When comparing the level of the liver enzymes AST and ALT for the T5 treatment to that of the T1 controlled treatment, there was a significant improvement (P<0.05). While there was little difference between the T5 treatment and the T2, T3, and T4 treatments.