Trial: Non-antibiotic growth promoters for broilers

A feeding trial was recently conducted at the Cairo University in Egypt (2013 Abdfattah) to evaluate the impact of dietary fortification of non-antibiotic growth promoter feed additives on performance, immune status and gut integrity of broiler chicks.

The feeding trial was carried out using 180, one day-old Cobb broiler chicks into three groups (3 replicates x 20 animals): control group, essential oils (EO = carvacrol, cinnamladehyde and capsicum) with 100 g/MT and Gustor BP70, a product from Spanish feed manufacturer, Norel, with 750 g/MT.

The influence of dietary supplementation of EO and Gustor BP70 resulted in significant improvements (p<0.05) in body weight gain (+6.4% and +11.4% vs. control) and FCR (reduction by 13.6% and 12.2%, respectively). The immune response manifested by Newcastle disease virus (NDV) titers in chicks was significantly different among groups at 35 days (7.46, 6.2 vs. 5.73; p< 0.05) as well as at 42 days (7.53, 7.80 vs. 5.93) for Gustor BP70, EO and control birds respectively.

Results of the histopathological examination of jejunum at the end of the experiment indicated that birds from the control group showed signs of enteritis, however the microscopical appearance of small intestine in diets supplemented with EO or Gustor BP70 revealed a marked increase in villus surface area with intact epithelium and increase in globet cell numbers (Gustor BP70 group) compared to control. It was concluded that dietary supplementation of EO or Gustor BP70 has a positive effect on broiler performance, immunity and gut integrity.

Source: Norel