Efficacy of peppermint (Mentha pipreitae), basil (Ocimum basilicum) and their combination on growth performance and meat quality of broilers

The efficacy of peppermint (Mentha pipreitae), basil (Ocimum basilicum) and their combination as natural feed additives was the goal of the current investigation on the broiler performance and meet quality. A number of 600 days old broiler chicks (Ross 308 strain) were randomly distributed into four treatments with five replicates which contained 30 chicks in each replicate for forty-nine days of the experimental period. The dietary treatments were designed as follows; control (T1) standard diet, 1% of peppermint in the standard diet (T2) and 1% of basil standard diet (T3) and their combination 0.5% peppermint + 0.5% basil (T4). The results of this research were showed that the best live body weight and weight gain were recorded for basil and combination between of two additives compared with the control group. Also, there were no significant differences on the feed intake, feed conversion ratio carcass weight and meat quality of the boiler at the end of the experimental period. The investigations of the current study found that feeding broilers on peppermint, basil and their combination tend to improve their growth performance and feed conversion ratio but not statistically.