The efficacies of 5 widely used dietary supplements were investigated on performance indices, fecal oocyst excretion, lesion score, and intestinal tract measurements in healthy and Eimeria spp.-infected birds by using a comparative model. This study included 2,400 sexed Ross 308 broiler chicks that were equally divided in 2 groups: the infected group, experimentally infected with oocysts of mixed Eimeria spp. at 14 d of age, and the healthy controls. The birds in both groups were further divided equally into 6 groups, of which one was fed a basal diet and served as control without treatment and the other 5 served as experimental treatments. These 5 groups were fed 5 diets containing preparations of 60 mg/kg of anticoccidial salinomycin (SAL), 1 g/kg of multienzyme (ENZ), 1 g/kg of probiotic (PRO), 1 g/kg of prebiotic (PRE), and 40 mg/kg of an herbal essential oil mixture (EOM). Body weight gain and feed conversion ratio (FCR) showed significant improvement in the infected animals, which indicates that dietary supplemental regimens with SAL, ENZ, PRO, and PRE initiated in 1-d-old chicks reduced adverse effects after challenge with coccidiosis; however, chicks that were administered EOM failed to show such improvement. Uninfected chickens showed significant improvement in FCR with supplements SAL, PRE, and EOM, which signifies significant (P < 0.01) infection by supplement interactions for BW gain and FCR. In the infected group, all of the supplements reduced the severity of coccidiosis lesions (P < 0.01) induced by mixed Eimeria spp. through the middle and lower regions of the small intestines, whereas supplementation with SAL or EOM alone was effective (P < 0.01) in reducing oocyst excretion compared with the control treatment. The data indicated that use of these subtherapeutically efficacious supplements (except EOM) in broiler production can lessen the depression in growth due to coccidial challenge.

The effects of some alternative feed additives for antibiotic growth promoters on performance and some slaughter characteristics were examined in broilers fed wheat-soya based basal starter and finisher diets. A total of 2160 one-day-old male broiler chicks were randomly allocated to six groups with six replicate pens per treatment. The treatments were the basal diet (Control), and the basal diet supplemented with an antibiotic growth promoter (AGP); a prebiotic, mannan oligosaccharide (Bio-Mos, MOS); an essential oil of oregano (Herb-Mos Oregano, HMO); a plant extract of hop (Herb-Mos Hops, HMH) or a mixture of Herb-Mos Oregano and Herb-Mos Hops (HMOH). There were significant effects of dietary treatments on body weight and feed conversion ratio in the 0-21 d period, and on body weight and feed consumption in the 0-42 d period. The addition of all experimental additives to the diet resulted in significantly higher body weights as compared to the control treatment at both 21 and 42 days of age. Feed intakes were significantly different between the treatments at 0-21 d and 22-42 d periods, but not during the 0-42 d period. However, during the 0-21 d period the broiler chickens that received diets supplemented with AGP, MOS, HMO, HMH and HMOH had significantly better feed conversion ratios than the control group, but this pattern was not sustained during the finisher period (22-42 d). Mortality rate, hot carcass yield and relative weights of the small intestines, pancreas, abdominal fat and bursa of fabricius were not affected by experimental treatments. The HMH supplementation increased relative liver weight. These results showed that AGP, MOS and herbal feed additive (HMO, HMH, HMOH) supplementation to a diet provided significant advantages on broiler growth performance through a 42-d growth period. However, the combined supplementation of HMO and HMH did not exert either synergistic or additive benefits on the live performance of the broilers. These results also proved that MOS, HMO, HMH and HMOH improved broiler live performance as well as an AGP in both the starter and through the grower period. Furthermore, outstanding advantages were evidenced for the HMH treatment in particular. Therefore, the MOS, HMO, HMH and HMOH performance enhancer feed additives of natural origin may be considered as potential substitutes for AGP in broiler diets.

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The major quality characteristics of breast and thigh meat, including chemical composition, fatty acid composition, cholesterol content and colour of slow-growing broilers (Hubbard Red-JA), reared under either organic or conventional rearing systems, and fast-growing broilers (Ross-308) grown under the conventional procedure, were investigated in this comparative study. Slaughter age was 81 days and 42 days for slow-and fast-growing birds, respectively. A lower protein, but higher fat content was measured in the thigh meat of slow-growing broilers reared both in the organic and conventional systems, compared with conventionally reared fast growers. In both systems the breast meat of fast-growing birds had a higher moisture content than those of the slow-growing birds. The organic system promoted ash retention in breast meat compared with conventional rearing procedures. The fatty acid profile of thigh and breast meat showed different responses to broiler rearing systems. Both thigh and breast meat of conventionally reared slow-growing birds contained higher cholestorel levels. Breast and thigh meat yielded from conventionally reared fast-growing birds had a markedly higher red appearance, but a lower yellow colour, than those of slow growers. The organic system increased the yellowness of the meat. In conclusion, the organic rearing procedure provided no added benefit to chicken meat quality than current conventional applications, except in yellowness. Meat produced from birds in the organic system did not meet consumer expectations of presenting a lower n-3 but a higher n-6/n-3 ratio in thigh meat. _______________________________________________________________________________Keywords: Fast-growing broilers, slow-growing broilers, organic production, meat quality # Corresponding author: mehmetbozkurt9@hotmail.com IntroductionPoultry meat production in the world exceeded 92 million tons in 2009 and constituted one third of global meat production (Evans, 2008). Commercial broiler hybrids reach market weight within 40 days, with excellent feed conversion efficiencies and high yields of edible cuts. However, the rapid growth of fastgrowing modern lines leads to welfare concerns, especially because of metabolic disorders (Owens et al., 2006). It is evident that the genotype of the bird influences the meat quality of broiler chickens considerably. It has been reported that selection for fast growth and high yield is likely to affect the sensory and functional properties of chicken meat (Dransfield & Sosnicki, 1999;Le Bihan-Duval et al., 1999). Therefore, differences in meat quality may derive from the notable differences in growth rate between fast-and slowgrowing broiler strains (Fanatico et al., 2005). The rearing of slow-growing genotypes in organic production systems, even raising them indoors, holds potential for non-conventional broiler producers and should be evaluated.In recent times, consumers have been increasingly interested in products that they perceive as naturally produced or environmentally fr...

1. A herbal extract containing a blend of three essential oils, derived from oregano, laurel leaf and lavender, was investigated as a feed additive alternative to the conventional anticoccidial sodium monensin. 2. Broilers were infected with a mixture of Eimeria species or left uninfected. Both infected and uninfected broilers were provided with diets containing either herbal extract (HEX), monensin (MON) or without these supplements (CON). The HEX group had 50 mg herbal extract/kg diet and the MON group 100 mg monensin/kg diet. 3. All of the uninfected broilers exhibited higher body weight gain and better feed conversion when compared with their infected counterparts at d 28 and 42 of age. Both HEX and MON supplements caused significant improvements in performance in the infected broilers, but failed to have any effect on uninfected broilers. 4. Faecal oocyst output measured daily by sampling excreta, and expressed on a per bird basis, was lower in the HEX and MON groups than in the CON group. However, the herbal extract was not as effective as monensin in reducing oocyst excretion. Coccidial infection caused a significant increase in total intestinal length and caecal weight, but the dietary treatments did not influence these measurements. 5. These results indicate that providing a herbal extract in the diet was not as effective as monensin in protecting broilers exposed to a coccidial challenge.