Effect of adding lycopene and vitamin C to the diets on the productive performance of broiler chickens raised under heat stress

Abstract

The purpose of this experiment was to examine the efficacy of lycopene and vitamin C in alleviating heat stress in broilers and improving its overall performance. The experiment used 120 one-day-old broiler Ross 308 not sexed, each weighing 42 g, they were randomly distributed among five treatments with three replications (8 birds/replicate) and raised for 35 days under a temperature above 30 °C during the summer. The following are the experimental treatments: T1 was the first treatment, and it's a no-extras diet. T2: 1 gram of lycopene per kilogram. T3: 2 g of lycopene per kilogram of diet, T4. Lycopene (1 g/kg) and vitamin C (25 mg/kg feed) are combined as the fourth therapeutic option, T5. Lycopene (2 g/kg) and vitamin C (25 mg/kg feed) are combined as the fourth therapeutic option, T4. There were no statistically significant differences in the first three weeks of the experiment, but there were significant differences between the addition treatment and the control treatment in the rate of live body weight from the W2 until the end of the experiment. Feed consumption increases within the first, second and three week of contro treatment. Compared with addition treatments.