Abstract
In this experiment, the effect of dietary Plantago ovata (PO) on performance, carcass criteria, intestinal morphology, immunity, and intestinal bacterial population of broiler chickens was evaluated. A total of 250 one-day-old male broiler chicks (Ross 308) were randomly assigned to five treatments containing 0, 5, 10, 15, or 20g/kg of PO with five replicate pens and 10 birds in each replicate. Dietary PO increased body weight gain and decreased feed conversion ratio in the finisher period, improving the performance index (p<.05). Dietary treatments had no effects on carcass criteria, but breast meat percentage showed an increasing trend with incremental levels of PO in the diet (p=.069). The length of small intestine, especially jejunum section, as well as the villus height, villus width, villus area, and goblet cell numbers were significantly increased with supplemental PO (p<.05). Humoral and cellular immunity parameters, and oxidation stability of meat were improved due to use of dietary PO (p<.05). Dietary PO decreased the CFU of Escherichia coli, whereas the Lactobacilli population was increased (p=.001). Broken-line regression revealed that dietary PO at the rate of 10g/kg may results in the best performance in broiler chickens. This study showed that PO at the level of 10g/kg could be considered as a beneficial feed additive in broiler diet.
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