author(s)
Yahya Sabah Abdulameer, Faras Husain and Shaimimaa H Ali Al-cekal

abstract
The current experiment was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of oral administration of hydroalcholic Ziziphus mauritiana leaves extract (AZL) as antibiotic alternatives on growth performances, internal organs, lymphoid organs (spleen, Bursa) and blood biochemical characters of broiler during the period from 20 November to 26 December 2016 at the farm of Al Qasim Green University, Babylon, Iraq. A total of 160 one- day old male Ross broilers were divided randomly into 4 treatments with 4 replicate (10 birds per pen). The AZL was added at 0, 3, 7, and 10 ml / liter to water during starter (1-21 day) and grower (22-35) periods. The results showed that AZL increased the body weight and body weight gain at the all AZL groups but with no significant differences. During the grower period, the feed consumption was significantly higher (P<0.05) in the AZL group of 10 ml/litter (1910 gm) as compared with control (1700 gm). The feed conversion ratio (FCR) was significantly lower (P<0.04) at the 3ml/litter (1.38) as compared with control (1.59). Regarding, the internal organs, AZL showed no significant effects on lung, heart, gizzard, spleen, Bursa, and intestinal weight at the end of experimental period. On day35, Hemoglobin (Hb) and Total protein (TP) were found significantly higher (P<0.002) in AZL group of 10 ml /liter than control. The blood cholesterol level was significantly declined (P<0.001) for all AZL groups. It can be concluded that AZL shows a good results especially in low dose in growth performance, blood biochemical characters.