Effects of Aloe Vera Leaf Extract on Growth, Clinical Chemistry and Histology of Selected Organs in Turkey Poults Challenged withEscherichia coli

Abstract

A 6-weeks feeding trial was carried out to elucidate the effect of different levels of aloe vera leaf extract on the performance and health of turkey poults challenged with Escherichia coli. Sixty (60) turkey poults were randomly grouped into five treatments which were further replicated three times in a completely randomized design. The first group of poults was without infection and fed on the basal diet alone, and served as the positive control (P-CON). Out of the rest four infected groups, one was fed the basal diet alone to serve as the negative control (N-CON), while the others were fed the basal diet with tetramycin (ANT), or aloe vera at 2-mL (ALV2) and 3-mL (ALV3) per litre of water. The response of turkey poults to the challenge were assessed in terms of their growth performance, histology, haematology and serum constituents. The growth parameters, such as survival, weight gain, feed conversion efficiency were significantly (P<0.05) higher in poults given ALV3. Histological results of the organs (breast muscle, liver, spleen and ileum) showed normal morphological pattern for poults subjected to ALV2 while those kept on ALV3 showed normal for breast muscle, spleen and ileum but not for the liver. Similarly, birds raised on ANT showed normal organ morphology compared with the positive control. However, the birds challenged with E. coli without (N-CON) showed abnormal morphological pattern for all the organs investigated. There were also no adverse effects of aloe vera leaf extract on turkey poults health, as determined from the analysis of various haematological parameters and serum metabolites. The results indicated that Aloe vera leaf extract inclusion at 2mL (ALV2) in drinking water could successfully replace antibiotics in the rearing of turkey poults.