Effect of lemon and orange peel essential oils on performance of broiler chickens during summer

The present experiment was conducted to study the effect of lemon and orange peel essential oils on performance of broilers during summer season. The present research work was conducted on 240 Vencobb 400 straight-run broiler chickens. The day old chicks were randomly distributed into 4 treatment groups with 3 replicates of 20 chicks each. The control group received basal diet and the different treatment groups received basal diet supplemented with lemon peel essential oil at 200 mg/kg, orange peel essential oil at 200 mg/kg and combination of lemon and orange essential oil at 200 mg/kg feed. At the end of the study, the broilers supplemented with lemon or orange peel essential oil either alone or in combination recorded significantly higher (P<0.01) body weight and gain in weight than control. The percent improvement in FCR at sixth week in broilers fed lemon peel essential oil, orange peel essential oil and combination of these essential oils over the control was 8.62, 3.44 and 10.91%, respectively. The E. coli count was significantly (P<0.01) reduced in treatment group offered blend of lemon and orange peel essential oils. The supplementation of lemon and orange peel essential oil either singly or in combination in diets during summer season was found to be beneficial to enhance growth performance, gut health and margin of profit in broiler production.