Effect of dietary coconut oil on growth performance and stress response in broiler chickens

Broiler chickens (Cobb) were reared from day 14 to day 56 of age to investigate the effects of dietary coconut oil on growth performance and stress response in broiler
chickens. Thirty commercial broilers were designed into two treatments with three replication which were five broilers in each replication. Commercial broilers were fed with commercial feed which supplemented with 5% coconut oil and control (without coconut oil). Heterophils/ Lymphocytes (H/L ratio) was used as indicator for stress response of broiler chickens. Significantly better body weight was noted with broiler
chicken fed with diet supplemented with 5% coconut oil on day 28 to day 56 (P<0.05). Dietary 5% supplementations of coconut oil in commercial feed have positive effect to
enhance the feed efficiency and reduce the FCR value. It was recorded that the most effective FCR are at day 28 (1.69 ± 0.05) for commercial feed supplemented with
coconut oil by age. The lower value of H/L ratio recorded in broiler chicken fed with commercial feed supplemented with 5% coconut oil suggested that dietary coconut oil
alleviate the negative impact of accumulative stress on broiler chickens from environment factors and ambient temperature (heat stress).