Growth Performance and Carcass Traits of Cobb 500 Broiler Chickens Fed With Different Levels of Cinnamon (Cinnamomum cassia) and Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) Powders as Natural Feed Additives.

The natural and organic poultry production industry is growing. This is in response to rising consumer demand for poultry products that are natural and organic. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of dietary inclusion of cinnamon and fennel powder as natural feed additives on growth performance and carcass traits of broilers. A total of 210 day-old chicks were randomly assigned to five dietary treatments. The control group (T1) was provided with a standard diet containing no fennel seed powder (FNSP) and cinnamon bark powder (CNBP), while the other groups received a standard diet plus 0.75% FNSP (T2), standard diet plus 1.75% FNSP (T3), standard diet plus 0.75% CNBP (T4), and standard diet plus 1.75% CNBP (T5). Feed intake data were taken daily, while the body weight change was measured at a weekly interval. At the end of the experiment, three chickens from each treatment were picked and slaughtered for carcass traits measurements. The results revealed that broilers fed a diet containing 1.75% CNBP achieved significantly (p = 0.036) higher final body weight gain of 3243 ± 58.88 g, average daily weight gain of 70.88 ± 1.20 g and the best feed conversion ratio (p = 0.033) of 1.44 ± 0.03 at the end of the experiment when compared to the control group. Additionally, significantly higher dressed (p = 0.039) and eviscerated (p = 0.008) weights were found in 1.75% CNBP compared to the control. Furthermore, broilers in CNBP at 1.75% and 0.75% had significantly higher (p = 0.001) breast, thigh, and whole leg weight over the control and other treatments, except for the 1.75% FNSP group, which had significantly higher breast weight than the control. In general, incorporation of cinnamon powder in broilers' diet, particularly at a level of 1.75%, showed significant improvement in overall growth performance and carcass traits.