Growth Performance, Carcass Characteristics and Intestinal Microflora of Broiler Chickens Fed Diets Containing Carum copticum Essential Oil
| Autor: | Falaki M, Shams Shargh M, Dastar B, Hashemi SR, Sadeghi Mahoonak AR |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Poultry Science Journal, Vol 4, Iss 1, Pp 37-46 (2016) |
| Druh dokumentu: | article |
| ISSN: | 2345-6604 2345-6566 |
| Popis: | We evaluated the effects of dietary Carum copticum essential oil (CCEO) on growth performance, carcass characteristics and intestinal microflora of broiler chickens. A total of 240 Cobb broiler chickens were allocated to five dietary treatments, each with four replicates of 12 birds. Dietary treatments were prepared by formulating a corn-soybean meal-based diet free of antibiotics (Control) and supplementing the basal diet with three levels of CCEO at 150, 250, 350 mg/kg or antibiotic Virginiamycin at 200 mg/kg. Treatments were fed from 0 to 42 d of age. Body weight gain decreased linearly (P=0.035) with increasing CCEO while Virginiamycin increased body weight gain at 1 to 10 d compared to the control treatment (P < 0.05). Though feed consumption was not affected by CCEO, CCEO insignificantly improved feed conversion ratio (FCR) (P > 0.05). There were no differences in carcass characteristics among broiler chickens fed the control, CCEO and Virginiamycin diets (P > 0.05). Lactic acid bacteria in the cecum and ileum at 42 d of age were not influenced by the treatments (P > 0.05) but there was a linear increase of the log numbers of E. coli in the ileum (P=0.02) with increasing CCEO (P < 0.05). In conclusion, supplementing CCEO to diet at 150 mg/kg improve the growth performance, decrease undesirable intestinal bacteria in broiler chickens and is an adequate alternative to antibiotics. |
| Databáze: | Directory of Open Access Journals |
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