Effect of a Polyherbal or an Arsenic-Containing Feed Additive on Growth Performance of Broiler Chickens, Intestinal Microbiota, Intestinal Morphology, and Lipid Oxidation of Breast and Thigh Meat

摘要

Nowadays, the use of antibiotics or arsenic-based substances is under examination, due to concerns over microbial resistance and possible health hazards, such as toxicity. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the effects of a commercial polyherbal feed additive on the growth performance in broiler chickens in comparison with an arsenic-based feed additive. A total of 240 one-day-old broiler chickens were allocated into 3 groups with 4 replicates of 20 chicks and reared for 42 d. Control group was fed diets according to the bird age which contained no anticoccidials or antimicrobial growth promoters; the diet of the second group was further supplemented with an herbal feed additive at 500 mg/kg feed that contained a total phenolic content of 22.61 mg GAE/gr dry mass. In order to assess the active herbal components, the herbal productwas analyzed for its essential oil content and individual constituents. The yield of essential oil after steam distillation was 5.86%, containing mainly camphor (49.4%), menthol (26.2%), and thymol (13.0%). The diet of the third group was further supplemented with an arsenic feed additive at 45 mg/kg feed. Dietary supplementation with the herbal feed additive showed increased (P 0.001) weight gain, improved feed conversion ratio (P 0.05), and positively modified (P 0.01) the ileum morphology parameters (villus height, villus height to crypt depth ratio, and number of goblet cells) compared to the un-supplemented control diets. No major differences (P > 0.05) were noticed on ileal and caecal microbiota between the experimental groups. Moreover, the meat of the herbal supplemented birds showed increased (P 0.001) oxidative stability under refrigerated storage compared to the un-supplemented control group.