Effect of dietary saffron (Crocus sativus) petal extract on growth performance, blood biochemical indices, antioxidant balance, and immune responses of broiler chickens reared under heat stress conditions

Abstract

To evaluate the alleviative effects of saffron (Crocus sativus) petal extract (SPE) on growth performance, blood biochemical indices, antioxidant status, and immunity of heat-stressed broilers, 250 newly hatched male broiler chickens were randomly allocated to control diet (basal diet, two groups), or control diet supplemented with 300, 500, or 700 mg SPE/kg diet, with five replicates and 10 birds each. The broiler chickens, except one of the control groups, were exposed to heat stress (HS, 37 ± 1 °C, 55% relative humidity) for 6 h/day from day 25 to 42. Heat stress reduced body weight gain (BWG), feed intake (FI), and abdominal fat percentage, and increased feed conversion ratio (FCR, p