Published in Scientific Papers. Series D. Animal Science, Vol. LXIV, Issue 1
Written by Mihaela SARACILA, Tatiana Dumitra PANAITE, Dumitru DRAGOTOIU
The paper presents the effect of a dietary phytogenic mixture on intestinal microflora of broilers raised under thermoneutral conditions (TN) and heat stress (HS). The feeding trials were conducted on 120 Cobb 500 broilers (60 chicks/trial) raised in environmentally- controlled digestibility cages. Up to 14 days the chicks were fed a conventional diet. On the 14th day, they were divided in four homogeneous groups (2 groups/ trial, 30 chicks/ group). In the first trial, two groups (C-TN and PM-TN) were kept in TN. In the second trial, two other groups (C-HS and PM-HS) were kept in HS (32°C). Both trials used the same structure of diets. Compared with the control diet (C), the experimental diet (PM) included the addition of 1% phytogenic mixture (bilberry leaves, peppermint leaves, fennel leaves and sea buckthorn meal). Both in TN and HS, dietary PM lowered the number of staphylococci and increased the lactobacilli populations in the intestinal and caecal content. E. coli populations have decreased only in the intestinal content of broilers fed PM diet. In conclusion, dietary PM could be an efficient alternative to modulate the intestinal microflora of broilers even in heat stress conditions.
[Read full article] [Citation]
