Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the impact of dietary addition of lavender essential oil (
Lavandula angustifolia
L.) (LEO) on the growth performance, tissue histoarchitecture, and fatty acid profile in breast muscles, as well as blood biochemistry and immune expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines of broiler chickens. A total of 200 three-day-old broiler chickens (average body weight 101.3 ± 0.24 g) were assigned to a completely randomized design consisting of four dietary treatments (
n
= 50 per treatment, each replicate consisting of 10 birds) that included lavender essential oil at concentrations of 0 (control group), 200, 400, and 600 mg Kg
−1
diet. The experiment lasted for 35 days. The results revealed that supplementation of lavender essential oil at 200, 400, or 600 mg/kg in broiler diets had no effect (
p
> 0.05) on the growth performance throughout the experimental periods (3–10, 11–23, and 24–35 days of age). According to the broken line regression model, the optimal level for dietary LEO addition was the 460 mg kg
−1
diet based on the total body weight gain and feed conversion ratio results. The diets supplemented with lavender essential oil had no effect (
p
> 0.05) on the percentages of carcass yield or internal organs. Dietary addition of LEO significantly increased the percentages of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids PUFA (n-3), omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-6), and the n-3/n-6 ratio (
p
< 0.05) in the breast muscles of chickens in a level-dependent manner. The blood concentration of alanine aminotransferase was significantly increased in lavender essential oil at 600 mg kg
−1
compared with other treatments. The dietary addition of LEO at 200, 400, and 600 mg kg
−1
significantly reduced the malondialdehyde level. Still, they significantly increased the serum enzyme activities of total antioxidant capacity, catalase, superoxide dismutase, and the pro-inflammatory cytokine (interleukine-1 beta and interferon γ) compared with the unsupplemented group. The LEO-supplemented groups showed normal liver histomorphology as in the control group. However, the immunoexpression of the pro-inflammatory cytokine transforming growth factor β was significantly increased by increasing the level of LEO. It can be concluded that lavender essential oil can be included in broiler chicken diets up to 460 mg kg
−1
with no positive effect on the bird’s growth. It can improve the antioxidant capacity and enrich the breast muscles with PUFA. An increased level of supplementation (600 mg kg
−1
) increased the inflammatory responses in broiler chickens.