Use of cinnamon and Bacillus subtilis probiotics in the diet of broiler chickens

Abstract The present study was carried out to evaluate the effect of cinnamon and Bacillus subtilis on the growth, meat characteristics, and lipid profiles of broiler chickens. In experiments 1 and 2, a total of 320 day-old broiler chicks were assigned to D1 (control), D2 (4 g cinnamon/kg), D3 (6 g cinnamon/kg), D4 (8 g cinnamon/kg) with four replicates, and D1 (control), D2 (0.4 g B. subtilis (BS)/kg), D3 (0.6 g BS/kg), D4 (0.8 g BS/kg), D5 (6 g cinnamon/kg) with three replicates, and 10 chicks/replication for 35 and 30 days, respectively. In experiment 1, no significant difference was observed among diets for growth and meat yield. However, test diets performed better than the control diet in terms of water-holding capacity of meat (WHCM), cooking loss of meat (CLM), blood lipids profiles (BLP), sensory quality score (SQS) (p > 0.05), and flavor (p < 0.05). In experiment 2, there was no significant difference among diets for growth, meat yield, WHCM, CLM, and BLP of the bird (p > 0.05), except for SQS (p < 0.001). Notwithstanding, the D5 tended to increase growth, meat yield, WHCM, and SQS, and decrease CLM and BLP. Thigh meat showed higher SQS than breast meat in both experiments. Therefore, the 6 g cinnamon/kg diet may be used for producing a safe, quality, and cost-effective broiler.