the effect of using of bitter cucumber fruit powder, citrullus colocynthis, and probiotic on growth performance and intestinal morphology of broiler chicks

background & aim: the fruit of citrullus colocynthis has a bitter taste and antibacterial properties against pathogen factors.the aim of current research was to study the effects of different dietary level of bitter cucumber fruit powderwith and without protexin probiotic supplementation on growth performance, carcass traits and intestinal morphology of broiler chicks. experimental: two hundred forty of one-days old of ross broiler chicks at a 4×2 factorial experiment design (0, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6%bitter cucumber with 0 and 0.01%protexin) were randomly distributed to eight dietary treatments with three replicates and fed 42 days. feed intake, body weight gain and feed conversion ratio of birds were measured during the experiment. at the end of experiment the internal organs of chicks were weight and intestinal morphology was evaluated. results: feed intake of chicks significantly reduced by 0.4 and 0.6% bitter cucumber fruit treatments and body weight gain of chicks were significantly improved (p