Abstract
This study was conducted to investigate the effects of the replacement of drinking water by herb infusions on the performance, relative weight of internal organs, hematocrit and immune response to Newcastle disease virus of broiler chickens. A total of 540 male broiler chicks (Ross 308) were divided into five groups, corresponding to four different treatments and one control group. Treatments were replicated eight times, and the control group four times. Experimental treatments included infusions (5 grams per liter) of cinnamon, thyme and turmeric in equal ratios in replacement of drinking water. Experimental period lasted 21 days and all chicks were fed with a corn-soybean based diet. Results showed that all herbs infusions caused significant (p<0.05) decrease in live body weight compared with the control group at 21 days of age. Mix treatment significantly decreased relative carcass weight relative to the control group (p<0.05). Herbs infusions increased the relative weight of some organs. None of herb additives affected hematocrit in comparison to control group. Cinnamon and herb mix infusion significantly improved bird immune response to the NDV vaccine in comparison to the control group and those that received only turmeric infusion. When all in-water additives were compare to each other, the birds supplemented with turmeric infusion showed the worst performance and immunity. The results of this experiment suggest that these herbs infusions did not favor the performance of broiler chickens.
Highlights
The use of additives like antibiotics as growth promoters in livestock has been banned due to concerns about their residues in animal tissues and subsequent induction of bacterial resistance
All herbal infusions significantly (p
None of the herbal infusions had a significant effect on ADG, ADFI and FCR in comparison to control group (p>0.05) during the entire experimental period (1-21 days of age), while all infusion additives significantly decreased LBW (p
Summary
The use of additives like antibiotics as growth promoters in livestock has been banned due to concerns about their residues in animal tissues and subsequent induction of bacterial resistance. Due to this concern, researchers have evaluated alternative growth promoters such as probiotics and prebiotics, which benefits to the health of the digestive tract and its habitants have been suggested (Patterson & Burkholder, 2003). Other studies have not found positive effects of herbs and their related essential oils These latter findings may be related to experimental conditions, such as hygiene and dietary agents (Lee et al, 2003)
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