Application of waste lemon plants on performance and improvement of health of broiler chicks

Two hundred and forty Arbor Acres broiler chickens with 4 treatments and 4 replicates for 42 days in order to prevent environmental contamination due to the disposal of waste from the breweries and optimal usage of these wastes in broiler chickens. Chickens of a group were considered as control and fed with corn and soybean diet. In order to feed the other three groups, the base diet was replaced with 5, 7.5 and 10% lemon pulp respectively. The results indicated that the inclusion of 5 and 7.5% lemon pulp in diets had a significant effect on body weight (P>0.05), although the use of its 10% level significantly reduced body weight compared to the control group. Using the 10% level of lemon pulp increased the feed conversion ratio in the periods of 21-49 and 1-49 days (P<0.05). Using the 10 % level of lemon pulp reduced the blood cholesterol concentration and increased the production of antibody against red blood cells of sheep at 35 and 42 days of age (P <0.05). Although hemoglobin level and hematocrit percentage were not influenced by experimental treatments (P>0.05), the amount of reactive substances was affected by thiobarbituric acid (P<0.05). In conclusion, the addition of lemon pulp at 7.5% of the diet without affecting the body weight can stimulate the immune system, which is a good alternative to poultry diets.