A comparative study of red pepper with commercial growth promoters onthe performance of broilers under heat stress

Effect of red pepper in comparison to commercial growth promoters, Biostrong and Oleobiotec, on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and other traits of broilers under heat stress conditions using 200 day-old broiler chickens mixed male and female of ArborAcers strain in a completely randomized design with four treatments, five replications and ten chickens per replicate were evaluated. Treatments included a basal diet without additives and a basal diet containing 10, 0.1, 0.15 g/kg red pepper, Biostrong, and Oleobiotec,respectively. At the beginning of third week, the birds were exposed to heat stress for six hours per day. During the 42 days of the experiment, the mean minimum and maximum temperatures were 25°C and 33°C. Feed intake, weight gain, feed conversion ratio, the weight of internal organs, caecal microflora, and precaecal nutrient digestibility were measured for the heat stress period. The use of red pepperimproved the feed conversion ratio and daily weight gain in grower and finisher periods and increased protein, lipid, and dry matter precaecal digestibility, the relative weight of bursa of Fabricius, spleen, and gizzard, and decreased the Ecoli population in caecum compared to the control treatment (P≤0.05). Biostrong and Oleobiotec did not affect growth performance, prececal nutrient digestibility, and the E.colipopulation. Overall, using the red pepper in the diet of broilers compared to commercial growth promoters reduced the adverse effects of heat stress on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and caecal microflora.