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A B S T R A C T This study was designed to assess the preventive effect of an ethanol extract of elecampane (Inula helenium L.) rhizome (EEER) on ascites in broiler chickens. A total of 900 1-day-old male chicks (Ross 308) were assigned to five treatment groups, each of which had six pens of 30 chicks per pen. The control birds were housed in a thermoneutral chamber and fed a basal diet, while the other four groups were reared in a cold chamber to induce ascites and fed the basal diet supplemented with either 0, 500, 1000, or 2000 mg/kg of EEER. Associated with cold treatment, there were decreases in feed intake, body weight, and body weight gain and an increase in ascites mortality (P