effect of adding pomegranate peel powder to fat-containing diets on performance of broilers

in order to investigate antioxidant and antimicrobial effects of pomegranate peel powder (ppp), this research was conducted as completely randomized design arranged in a 2 × 2 factorial experiment using pomegranate peel powder (0 and 2 percent) and soybean oil (so, zero and six percent in growing period; zero and eight percent in finishing period). one hundred and sixty 11-day-old ross 308 broiler chickens assigned to four treatments of four replicate each. the results showed that ppp improved the antibody titer in 39-day broilers, increased fat digestibility, improved lactobacillus and decreased e coli micro flora in ileum and cecum significantly (p ≤ 0.05). the so decreased dm digestibility and lactobacillus micro flora and e coli in ileum and cecum (p ≤ 0.05). as a conclusion adding ppp to the fat containing diets in comparison to control diets; without ppe and so, improved antibody titer, beneficial gastric micro flora in ileum and cecum and had not any deleterious effect on overall broiler performance.