الفهرس 
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Abstract
The current study was conducted in a private farm under the direction of the Animal Production Department, College of Agriculture, Tanta University, from October to December 2022. The institutional ethical rules of Agriculture College - Tanta University (No. AY 2019-2020/Session 6/2020.01.13) in dealing with animals for scientific purposes were followed during the experiment period. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of Piperine supplementation at different levels on broiler performance, physiological status, antioxidants indices, and economic efficiency. Three hundred one-day-old unsexed (Ross-308 classic FF) broiler chicks were used in this experiment. Birds were legs-banded, individually weighed to the nearest gram and randomly distributed into four equal experimental groups; with three replicates of 25 chicks each. The average initial body weights of the treatment’s groups were nearly similar with no observed significant differences. Chicks were grown in floor pens and subjected to 20 hrs lighting along the experimental period, which extended to 5 weeks of age. The house temperature was kept at about 34ºC during the first 3 days, 32ºC during the next 4 days and thereafter, gradually decreased by 3ºC weekly down to 24ºC. Feed and water were available ad libitum throughout the experimental period. All experimental groups were reared under similar managerial and hygienic conditions. The experimental designed was included: T1 Basal diet without any supplementation (Negative control). T2 Basal diet supplemented with 200 mg Neomycin sulphate/kg feed (Positive control). T3 Basal diet supplemented with 50 mg Piperine/kg feed. T4 Basal diet supplemented with 100 mg Piperine/kg feed. Individual live body weight feed intake and mortality rate were recorded weekly during the experiment. Weight gain and feed conversion ratio were calculated on a group. At the end of the feeding trial, all birds were fasted for 12 hrs. prior to final sampling. Nine birds from each treatment were randomly selected weighed, slaughtered by slitting the jugular vein of the birds in the morning, then after slaughter and complete bleeding scalded and defeathered. Carcasses were eviscerated manually and weighed. Liver, spleen, burse, gizzard, thymus, and heart were removed carefully and weighed. All organs weights were expressed as percentage of body weight and subjected to arcsine transformation. Two blood samples were collected from each bird during slaughtering, one with EDTA, while the other without; tubes in EDTA-containing for determination of the biochemical parameters. Plasma or serum were obtained immediately by centrifugation the blood for 10 min. at 3000 rpm and frozen rapidly in ependorf tubes until the time of analysis. The results indicated that:- 1- Piperine supplementation significantly (P≤0.01) impacted body weight (BW, g) and weight gain (WG, g) at 5 weeks of the experimental period. Chicks fed a diet supplemented with piperine at the level of 100 mg/kg of feed showed the highest BW and WG at 5 weeks of the experimental period followed by those received a diet supplemented with piperine at levels of 50 mg/kg, as compared to both control negative and control positive. 2- Feed consumption (FC, g) and feed conversion ratio (FCR, g/g) of broilers were not affected by piperine supplementation levels up to 100 mg/kg of feed. 3- All carcass characteristics were positively (P≤0.01) affected by piperine supplementation except the relative weights of heart and gizzard. The relative weights of carcass, dressing, liver, bursa of Fabricius, thymus, and spleen were significantly (P≤0.01) increased by increasing piperine supplementation level up to 100 mg/kg of feed, as compared to the control group. The improvement in the relative weight of lymphoid organs (Bursa of Fabricius, thymus, and spleen) indicated that there was an improvement in the immune-response as a result for using piperine in broiler diets up to 100 mg/kg. 4- Serum total protein, albumin, globulin, and total cholesterol were not statistically (p>0.05) affected by dietary piperine. On the other trend, the activity of ALT and AST enzymes, concentrations of triglycerides, HDL, LDL and VLDL were significantly (p≤ 0.05) affected by dietary piperine. 5- The activity of liver function enzymes (ALT and AST) were significantly (p≤0.05) increased by increasing piperine supplementation levels from 50 up to 100 mg/kg of feed. 6- The concentrations of triglycerides were significantly (p≤0.05) decreased by increasing supplementation levels of from 50 up to 100 mg/kg of feed. 7- A significant (P≤0.01) improvement in the oxidative status; this is evident through a significant increase in the levels of both TAC and SOD and decreasing the amount of MDA in blood plasma. Conclusion, from the above results it could be concluded that, dietary supplementation of piperine at 100 mg/kg of feed gave an enhancement of productive performance, carcass traits, physiological and antioxidants status, and economic efficiency of broiler chicken. So, piperine (100 mg/kg diet) could be used as a natural alternative feed additive to promote health and improve growth performance of broiler chickens instead of antibiotic growth promoters.