ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Nutritional strategies targeting improvement of poultry performance and disease prevention are currently being developed and in this respect the dietary intake of spiced essential oils and pre-biotics in raising broilers is receiving attention.
OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to compare the effects of diet containing ginger essential oils [GEO] and mannan- oligosaccharide [MOS] on growth performance, biochemical and hematological parameters, lymphoid organ weights and antibody response of broilers.
METHODS: A total of 375 day old male broiler chicks were randomly assigned to five treatments [five replicates per treatment]. Dietary treatments included basal diet as control, GEO-supplemented diets with inclusion levels of 50 [GEO1], 100 [GEO2] or 200 [GEO3] mg/kg, and MOS supplemented diet with an inclusion level of 2 g/kg.
RESULTS: The birds fed on MOS and GEO3 diets exhibited better feed conversion ratio and higher body weight gain from 1 to 42 day of age compared with control birds [p<0.05]. Serum low density lipoprotein cholesterol level in the MOS, GEO2 or GEO3 groups was lower than that of the control group [p<0.05]. Serum cholesterol level was also lower in the GEO2 and MOS groups [p<0.05]. Feeding on GEO3 and MOS diets significantly increased relative bursa weight and secondary antibody titer against infectious bursal disease [IBD] and infectious bronchitis [IB] vaccines as compared with control diet [p<0.05].
CONCLUSIONS: The results showed that higher level of GEO [200 g/kg] similar to MOS supplementation, improved feed efficiency and immune response. This could meet consumers' demand for a safe feed additive