Effects of dietary supplementation of turmeric and black cumin powder on performance and blood parameters of native chickens

This study was conducted to determine the effect of supplementation of a mixture of turmeric and black cumin powder on the production performance, blood parameters, and quality of native chicken eggs. Ninety-six female native chickens aged 17 weeks were randomly allocated in a completely randomized design into four treatments. The four treatments were differentiated based on the level of supplementation of a mixture of turmeric (TP) and black cumin powder (BCP), namely T0: Control (without a mixture of TP and BCP); T1: (2.5 g TP + 2.5 g BCP)/kg ration; T2: (5 g TP + 5 g BCP)/kg ration and T3: (7.5 g TP + 7.5 g BCP)/kg ration. Each treatment was repeated 3 times, using 8 native chickens. The variables measured were blood parameters including Hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit, total red blood cells (RBC), white blood cells (WBC), blood cholesterol and triglycerides; and also, the performance variables of feed consumption, egg production (HDA), body weight at 34 weeks, egg weight, egg mass, feed conversion, yolk weight, shell weight, shell thickness, yolk color index, cholesterol, LDL and HDL of yolks. The Data were collected for 16 weeks and analyzed by variance analysis. The results showed that supplementation with a mixture of TP and BCP increased feed consumption; HDA; body weight; egg mass; shell weight, thickness, and yolk color (P<0.05). Egg weight and yolk weight were not significantly different. TP + BCP supplementation significantly reduced feed conversion, cholesterol level, HDL, and LDL. Increased TBCP supplementation increased Hb, hematocrit, red blood cells and white blood cells and significantly decreased cholesterol, lipoproteins, and triglycerides in the blood (P<0.05). It was concluded that TBCP mixture supplementation could improve production performance, some of blood parameters, and quality of native chicken eggs.