the effect of anethum graveolens on egg quality, some blood metabolites and hatchability in broiler breeder hens

background: improvement of hatchability in aging broilerbreeder has economic justification. objectives: the main objective ofthis study was to determine the effect of dietary anethum graveolensessential oil on egg quality, some plasma metabolites and hatchability inbroiler breeder hens. methods: a total number of eighty hens and eightcocks from ross 308 strain of 105 weeks old were divided into four groups withtwo replicates within each (10hens+ 1cock). the diets were supplemented without essential oil (control) and with 10, 20 and 40 ml essential oil/100kg dietsfor four weeks. results: there were no significant differences among thegroups in haugh unit and yolk index. while, there were significant differencesin egg weight, egg shape index, shell thickness, shell ratio, yolk color andshell weight. plasma triglyceride, high density lipoprotein cholesterol (hdl-c)and egg yolk cholesterol concentration were not influenced by dietary essentialoil of anethum graveolens. whereas essential oil increased plasmacholesterol significantly, it also significantly decreased plasma glucose.hatchability and fertility were positively affected by supplementation ofessential oil in the diet. conclusions: results of this study showedthat supplementing diet with  anethumgraveolens essential oil improved hatchability of total eggs set of broilerbreeders.