Influence of Essential Oil Components on Growth Performance and the Functional Activity of the Pancreas and Small Intestine in Broiler Chickens

Abstract

To investigate the efficacy of alternatives to antibiotics, the present study was conducted to compare the effects of antibiotic, lactic acid, a blend of commercial essential oils (EOs) and EOs in combination with lactic acid on growth performance and the functional activity of the gut in broiler chickens. A total of 168 broiler chickens were given the basal diet supplemented with 10 ppm colistin (T1), 0.1% lactic acid (T2), 25 ppm EOs (T3), 25 ppm EOs+0.1% lactic acid (T4), 50 ppm EOs (T5) or 50 ppm EOs+0.1% lactic acid (T6) in the period 3 to 35 days of age. As a result, the broiler chickens assigned to T4 group throughout the experimental period had apparently (p<0.05) greater body weight and total gain than these assigned to T1, T2, T3 and T5 groups. However, there was no difference in growth performance among the birds fed the diets supplemented with antibiotic (T1), lactic acid (T2) and EOs (T3 and T5) alone. The weights of digestive organs and the number of lactobacilli and E. coli in the lower ileum were not affected by dietary treatments. Total trypsin activity was significantly (p<0.05) greater in T4 than T1, T2, T3 and T5 groups. Total and specific pancreatic αamylase activities were significantly (p<0.05) enhanced in the broiler chickens fed T4 diet compared with these fed T1, T2 and T3 diets. However, there were no differences in growth performance and digestive enzyme activities including pancreatic trypsin and α-amylase between T4 and T6 groups fed the diets supplemented with either low or high EOs levels in combination of lactic acid. In conclusion, a blend of commercial EOs combined with lactic acid showed significant increases in digestive enzyme activities of the pancreas and intestinal mucosa, leading to increase in growth performance.

The Effect of Thyme Extract on Growth Performance, Digestive Organ Weights and Serum Lipoproteins of Broilers Fed Wheat-Based Diets

“…Feed conversion ratio was numerically improved at 0.6% thyme extract group in both starter, grower and over the whole trial period compared to other treatment, but the different was not significant. These results are in agreement with previous studies in broilers (Lee et al, 2003a;Jang et al, 2004;Abdolkarimi et al, 2011). In different studies conducted to evaluate the effect of thyme on broiler performance, inconsistent results have been obtained.…”

“…Growth promoting agents may have more impact when the diet in use is less digestible. In addition, it is know that well-nourished, healthy chicks do not respond to antibiotic supplements provided that they are housed under clean and disinfected conditions (Jang et al, 2004).…”

“…Moreover those studies with thymol have shown an antimicrobial effect in vitro, but their influence on growth performance of birds has not been sufficiently documented. For example some studies indicated a lack of a positive effect of thymol in the cornsoybean meal based diets (Lee et al, 2003b;Jang et al, 2004;Sengul et al, 2008;Rahimi et al, 2011) on growth performance. In contrast, other authors have reported the beneficial effect of thymol on broiler growth performance (Bassett, 2000;Hertrampf, 2001;Kamel, 2001;Bolukbasi et al, 2006;Cross et al, 2007;Bolukbasi and Erhan, 2007).…”

Influence of Citric Acid and Microbial Phytase on Growth Performance and Carcass Characteristics of Broiler Chickens

“…Therefore, the addition of CA to diets should promote growth. This was also found by Jang et al (2004) who reported that a blend of organic acid with essential oils showed increase in pancreatic and intestinal mucosa digestive enzyme activities, resulting an increase in growth. Moreover, downfall in pH caused reduction in GI tract digesta transmission speed that was justifiable by resulting in reduction of FI in diets having 6% CA.…”

Effect of Mint Leaves with or without Enzyme Supplementation on Blood Biochemistry, Carcass Characteristics and Sensory Attributes of Broiler Chicken

“…The use of phytogenics as feed additives is gaining importance due to their antimicrobial and stimulatory effects on digestive system ( Jamroz et al, 2003;Jang et al, 2004). They include herbs, spices or plants that are used to keep the gut microflora of poultry normal, which is a prerequisite for cost efficient and ecofriendly poultry production (Windisch and Kroismayr, 2006).…”