Effect of dietary mannan oligosaccharide with or without oregano essential oil and hop extract supplementation on the performance and slaughter characteristics of male broilers

Abstract

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.

Effect of lavender (<i>Lavandula Stoechas</i>) essential oil on growth performance, carcass characteristics, meat quality and antioxidant status of broilers

“…It is reasonable to expect such an effect by LEO because of its well-documented antimicrobial and antioxidant effects (Economou et al 1991, Cowan, 1999Gülçin et al 2004) and the probable digestive enhancer activity of phenolic compounds (Jamroz et al 2005;Basmacıoğlu et al 2010), which is a core mode of beneficial nutritional action. The results for bodyweight gain are similar to the findings of earlier studies on supplementing broiler diets with EOs of oregano, rosemary, sage and lavender, all of which belong to the Labiate plant family and contain phenols as key components (Alçiçek et al, 2003;Alçiçek et al, 2004;, Basmacıoğlu et al, 2004;Basmacıoğlu et al, 2010;Botsoglou et al, 2004;Hernandez et al, 2004;Bozkurt et al, 2009;Bozkurt et al, 2012a;.…”

Influences of an essential oil mixture supplementation to cornversuswheat-based practical diets on growth, organ size, intestinal morphology and immune response of male and female broilers

“…On the other hand, an EOM did not influence FI for any time period either on corn or wheat diets. However, study findings were inconsistent; some authors reported EOM to be a stimulator (Alçiçek et al, 2004;Bozkurt, et al, 2009) while others reported them to have no effect (Hernandez et al, 2004;Basmacıog˘lu et al, 2004;Botsoglou et al, 2004) on FI in broiler chickens. The discrepancies between the results appear to be due to nutritional variables, including ingredient composition, variety and, in particular, amount of essential oils added.…”

The effects of an organic rearing system and dietary supplementation of an essential oil mixture on performance and meat yield of slow-growing broilers in two seasons

“…Essential oils have been documented to possess various biological activities, such as antimicrobial (Cowan, 1999), antioxidant (Basmacıoğlu et al, 2004), antifungal (Shin & Lim, 2004) and coccidiostatic (Bozkurt et al, 2012b), and to stimulate digestive enzyme activity (Jamroz et al, 2005). Indeed, a series of scientific reports and field trials have demonstrated that the addition of EOs, individually or in combination, promotes zootechnical performance, including bodyweight gain, feed efficiency and viability (Williams & Rosa, 2001;Alçiçek et al, 2004;Bozkurt et al, 2009) of fast-growing broilers. However, only one previous report (Waldenstedt, 2003) has discussed the addition EO of oregano to the diet of the chicks fattened for 55 days.…”