A. Salajegheh - Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran.
M. Salarmoini - Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran.
M. Afsharmanesh - Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran.
M. H. Salajegheh - Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Animal Science, College of Agriculture, Zabol University, Zabol, Iran.

The aim of the current study was to evaluate the effects of lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) powder as an herbal feed additive on growth performance, carcass traits, meat quality, jejunal histomorphology, and ileal microbial population in broiler chickens. A total of two hundred twenty one day-old male broiler chicks were used in a completely randomized design with five treatments and four replicates (11 birds per replicate) for 42 days. Experimental diets consisted of a basal diet without any additives as control group and the basal diet containing flavophospholipol (0.02 %) or 3 levels of lavender powder (0.3, 1 or 1.7 %). Body weight, feed intake and feed conversion ratio were measured during the starter (1- 10 d), grower (11- 24 d) and finisher (25-42 d) periods. The results showed that lavender powder (at 1 % level) significantly increased feed intake during the finisher and entire rearing periods. Also, body weight gain and feed conversion ratio improved during the grower, finisher and entire rearing periods. Lavender powder significantly decreased (P<0.01) jejunal crypt depth and increased (P<0.01) villous height: crypt depth ratio compared to the control group. Malondialdehyde (MDA) content and cooking loss of meat samples were significantly decreased in birds fed 1 % lavender powder (P<0.01). Overall, the results of this experiment showed that lavender powder may be used to improve growth performance and meat quality in broiler chickens.

broiler, flavophospholipol, lavender, meat quality, performance