09/02/2017
Although there are many experiments reported on the antibacterial effects of herbs as alternative to antibiotic growth promoters in commercial pig diets on the gut microflora, there are no experiments in broiler chickens. Results of some experiments in pigs indicated that the dietary herbal product was highly active against both gram positive and gram negative bacteria (Gill, 1999). The supplementa tion of the mixed botanical product containing garlic, anise, cinnamon, rosemary and thyme to commercial pig diets did not significantly affect the lactobacillus species but very strongly inhibited E. coli. Birds fed botanical mixture had lower numbers of clostridia, of the same magnitude as broilers fed diets containing an antibiotic growth promoter (Tucker, 2002b).
The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of five herbal natural feed additives as alternative to an antibiotic growth promoter on performance, some blood parameters, intestinal traits, dry matter content of excreta and feed costs in broiler chickens.
Materials and Methods
A total of seventy-two day-old female Ross broiler chicks obtained from a commercial hatchery was randomly assigned to six groups containing 12 chicks each. The chicks were kept on individual wire cages under uniform environmental conditions from 0 to 42 d of age. The chicks were fed a commercial broiler starter diet from 0 to 14 d of age and a commercial broiler grower diet for the period of 14 to 35 d. This was followed by a finisher diet from 35 to 42 d. For 6 wk, chickens were given maize-soybean meal based diets. In Table 1 the composition and the calculated chemical composition of the experimental diets are given.
Table 1. The composition (g kg-1 ) of the basal diets
Zusammensetzung der Grundrationen (g/kg)
Starter
Grower
Finisher
Ingredients
Maize
436.50
427.40
502.00
Soybean meal (44%)
315.00
180.00
149.20
Ground wheat
-
75.00
100.00
Full-fat soybean
175.00
267.00
197.40
Vegetable oil
25.00
10.00
10.00
Limestone
10.00
20.00
25.00
Dicalcium phosphate
31.30
14.70
10.00
Salt
2.50
2.50
2.50
Vitamin-mineral premix1
2.50
2.50
2.50
DL-Methionine
-
0.90
1.40
L-Lysine
2.20
-
-
Total
1000
1000
1000
Calculated chemical composition
ME (MJ kg-1)
12.98
13.40
13.40
Crude Protein
244
225
195
Ether Extracts
76.2
77.0
67.2
Fibre
38.5
36.6
33.9
Ash
72.5
64.2
61.1
Calcium
12.0
12.5
13.3
Available Phosphorus
5.6
5.3
4.3
Methionine
3.5
4.0
4.0
Methionine+Cystine
7.5
7.4
6.9
Lysine
15.4
12.4
10.3
1 Provided per kilogram of diet: vitamin A, 12 000 IU; vitamin D3, 1 500 IU; vitamin E, 50 mg; vitamin K3, 5 mg; vitamin B1, 3 mg; vitamin B2, 6 mg; niacin, 25 mg; calcium-D-pantothenate, 12 mg; vitamin B6, 5 mg; vitamin B12, 0.03 mg; folic acid, 1 mg; D-biotin, 0.05 mg; apo-carotenoic acid ester, 2.5 mg; colin chloride, 400 mg; Mn, 80 mg; Fe, 60 mg; Zn, 60 mg; Cu, 5 mg; Co, 0.20 mg; I, 1 mg; Se, 0.15 mg.
