Chemical Composition and Zootechnical Effects of Essential Oil of Fennel (Foeniculum Vulgare Mill.) and Anise (Pimpinella Anisum L.) on Turkey.

Abstract

The main aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the dietary oils from fennel and anise on the zootechnical performances of Turkey. The essential oils were analyzed by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. One Hundred turkey males meat strain BUT 10 (Meleagris gallopavo), of one day old, were weighed and randomly allotted into 5 groups of 20 turkeys each. These groups were fed, for 35 days, the basal diet (Control) or the basal diet supplemented with 0.2 g/kg of fennel oil (EOFVD1), 0.5 g/kg of fennel oil (EOFVD2), 0.2 g/kg of anise oil (EOPAD1) and 0.5 g/kg of anise oil (EOPAD2). The mean body weight of EOFVD2 group (807.85 g) was higher than other groups at the end of the treatment (P < 0.05). Likewise, mean body weight of the EOPAD1 group (782.45 g) was different from those of EOFVD1 (769.89 g), EOPAD2 (756.77 g) and Control group (768.35 g) (P < 0.01). The results related to the average day weight gain (ADG) indicated that subjects belonging to the batches treated with EOFVD2, EOPAD1 and EOFVD1, expressed the best performance with ADG respective of 79.46 ± 4.03 g/d, 51.12 ± 27.88 g/d, 50.47 ± 26.94 g/d, followed by control group (49.76 ± 26.67 g/d), against 49.98 ± 28.46 g/d for the EOPAD2 group with a difference which is statistically significant (P < 0.05). These results concluded that supplementing diets with essential oils of fennel and anise, which improved body weight, could be interesting feed additives for growth promotion turkey.