The study was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation with turmeric powder as a natural growth promoter on performance, carcass traits, humoral immune responses and serum biochemical parameters in male broiler chickens. A total of 300 one-day-old male broiler chicks (Ross 308) were allocated to four treatments with five replicates. The dietary treatments consisted of the basal diet as control, 3.3, 6.6 and 10 g/kg turmeric powder added to the basal diet. The curcumin content of the turmeric powder was 1.16±0.03% by weight. Body weight gain and daily feed intake of chickens at different periods were not influenced by the dietary treatments. Broilers fed turmeric supplemented diets exhibited better feed efficiency over the grower and entire experimental periods in comparison with control group (P<0.05). A significant decrease (P<0.05) in abdominal fat pad and liver relative weight was observed in chickens fed the supplemented diets. Inclusion of turmeric powder also caused a marked (P<0.05) reduction in serum triglyceride concentration but no significant impact of turmeric powder was observed on antibody titer production against Newcastle and influenza viruses. The obtained results suggested that dietary inclusion of turmeric powder failed to induce any significant improvement on performance indexes except feed efficiency of broiler chickens. Nevertheless application of turmeric powder in the diet proved to have positive influence on carcass abdominal fat and serum triglyceride concentration at slaughter age.
Aim:The risk of bacteria resistance to specific antibiotics possibly by continuous subtherapeutical administration of antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) in poultry feed led to a ban on the use of AGP in poultry production. As a result of this ban, alternative substances for poultry growth promotion and disease prevention are being investigated, among which phytogenic and herbal products have received increased attention as natural additives because they have been accepted by consumers as natural additives. The effect of water supplementation of Aloe vera (AV) as an AGP substitute on performance, intestinal microflora, and immune responses of broilers.Materials and Methods:The five experimental treatments were allocated to four replicates. The following treatments were applied (1) a basal broiler diet (C) and normal drinking water, (2) 0.5% AV gel in drinking water, (3) 0.75% AV gel in drinking water, (4) 1% AV gel in drinking water, and (5) diet C supplemented with flavophospholipol at 4.5 mg/kg and drinking normal water. Vaccines against influenza disease and sheep red blood cell (SRBC) were administrated to immunological stimuli. The populations of Lactobacilli spp. and coliforms were enumerated in ileum.Results:Body weight of broilers supplemented with different levels of AV increased compared with control group (p<0.05). Birds supplemented with antibiotic had the best feed-to-gain ratio (F:G) in different periods. Supplementation of 0.5% and 0.75% AV improved F: G entire experimental period compared with control group (p<0.05). Coliform bacteria were reduced in broilers supplemented with different levels of AV or antibiotic (p<0.05). The Lactobacilli spp. population in birds supplemented with 0.75%, 1% AV or antibiotic significantly was higher than other groups (p<0.05). Supplementation with 1% AV led to greater antibody titers against SRBC compared with other groups (p<0.05).Conclusion:These findings demonstrated a possibility of supplementing broiler drinking water with 1% AV gel as an alternative for AGP substitution.
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