The present study aimed to investigate the effects of both dietary crisp orange peel and turmeric powder and their combination on growth performance and some carcass traits of broiler chicks. A total of 120 broiler chicks (one-day-old) were used in this study. The birds were randomly divided into four treatments consisting of a basal diet as a control (C), a diet of 0.5 g·kg-1 crisp orange peel (T1), a diet of 0.5 g·kg-1 turmeric powder (T2), and a diet of 0.25 g·kg-1 crisp orange peel + 0.25 g·kg-1 turmeric powder (T3). The bird chicks were weighed at 21 days of age. Weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, the weight of internal organs and carcass yield were measured throughout the experiment at the same intervals. The results showed that the birds treated with turmeric powder (T2) had higher (P ≤ 0.05) weight gain, lower (P ≤ 0.05) feed intake and the best feed conversion ratio during the starter period (1 – 21 days of age) and growth and in the finisher period (22 – 42 days of age) as compared with other treatments. It was observed that birds that received a basal diet with crisp orange peel (T1), turmeric powder (T2) and their combination had lower (P ≤ 0.05) abnormal fat, heart and liver weights as compared with the control treatment. The results showed that birds treated with turmeric powder (T2) recorded high (P ≤ 0.05) carcass weight and carcass yield percentage. It can be concluded that the treatment of birds with turmeric powder was more effective than other treatments and may be useful as a feed additive for improving growth performance and carcass yield.
