The effects of including tomato pomace and turmeric powder in dietary broiler chickens, on performance and lipid concentration were evaluated. 440 one-day old Arian broiler were randomly allotted into 20 pens which were assigned to 5 dietary treatments containing 0 (control), 3 or 5% tomato pomace, or 0.4 or 0.8% turmeric powder. Each dietary treatment was replicated 4 times with 22 broilers per pen. Feed and water were offered ad libitum. The ambient temperature was increased from 22 to 32°C for 5 h (10–15 h) on study d 28 to 42 (simulating diurnal temperature during heat stress). Relative humidity ranged from 50% to 65%. On study d 42, one bird from each replicate was randomly selected, slaughtered and blood samples taken from the jugular vein. Data were pooled and analyzed using the general linear model of SAS, and means were separated by Tukey test when P < 0.05. Dietary treatments did not influence (P > 0.05) body weight gain and feed intake. Feed conversion (intake/gain) was not affected by dietary treatments until d 28, after which it decreased (P < 0.05) in birds fed diets with a high content of tomato pomace and turmeric powder. Total cholesterol and triglyceride content of serum did not differ (P > 0.05) among dietary treatments. Birds fed diets with high contents of tomato pomace had higher (P < 0.05) concentration of HDL cholesterol in serum and no differences were found among birds fed the control diet and diets containing turmeric powder. The lowest serum LDL cholesterol was observed when birds were fed the diet containing 5% tomato pomace. It is concluded that supplementation of 5% tomato pomace and 0.8% of turmeric powder could alleviate the effects of heat stress on feed conversion and they could modulate the serum concentration of LDL and HDL cholesterol.

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