Garlic (Allium sativum) and mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) powder: Investigation of performance, meat quality, serum profile lipid, and intestinal morphology in broilers.

BACKGROUND: With the ban on the use of antibiotics in poultry nutrition, the opinion of nutritionists turned to their alternatives. Garlic and mushroom are the two important phytobiotic compounds in poultry nutrition. OBJECTIVES: This experiment was done to investigate the effect of garlic powder (GP) and mushroom powder (MP) on the growth performance, meat quality, serum lipid profile, and intestinal morphology of broilers. METHODS: Five hundred and seventy-six one-day-old male Ross 308 broiler chicks were assigned to eight treatments with six replications based on a completely randomized design in a factorial arrangement of 4*2 with four levels of GP (0.00, 0.50, 1.00, 1.50%) and two levels of MP (0.00, 1.00%). RESULTS: No significant effects of GP and MP on the performance were observed. With increasing levels of GP in the diets, the lightness and redness of breast meat decreased and increased, respectively (p < 0.05). The effect of increasing the amount of GP on the reduction of total cholesterol level was similar in the absence or presence of MP. With increasing levels of GP in the diets, the villus height (VH) and VH to crypt depth ratio (VH: CD) increased. The use of MP in the diets significantly increased VH and VH: CD (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The addition of GP and MP to the broilers' diets did not have any negative effect on the performance. These pharmaceutic herbs improved intestinal morphology. In addition, increasing the level of GP amended the meat color and reduced the level of serum cholesterol.

Effects of different levels of pistachio (Pistachia vera) green hull aqueous extract on performance, intestinal morphology and antioxidant capacity in Eimeria challenged broilers.

A total of 576-day-old Ross 308 broilers chicks (male) were used to evaluate the effect of various levels of pistachio green hull aqueous extract (PHE) and Eimeria challenge on the growth performance, intestinal health and antioxidant capacity. During infection period (25-42 d), treatments included: 1) control + unchallenged (negative control, NC), 2) 200 ppm PHE + unchallenged, 3) 300 ppm PHE + unchallenged, 4) 400 ppm PHE + unchallenged, 5) control + challenged (positive control, PC), 6) 200 ppm PHE + challenged, 7) 300 ppm PHE + challenged and 8) 400 ppm PHE + challenged (with 6 replications for each treatment). The outcomes revealed that in the challenged birds, average body weight gain (ABW), daily weight gain (DWG), and feed conversion ratio (FCR) linearly improved with increasing the PHE levels (P < 0.05). Infected broilers had lower daily feed intake (DFI) compared to unchallenged birds (P < 0.05). Villus height (VH), villus height to crypt depth (VH: CD) ratio and villus surface area (VSA) reduced linearly (P < 0.05), while muscle layer thickness (MT) increased linearly in challenged birds (P < 0.05). The consumption of the PHE significantly reduced the excreta oocytes and duodenum and jejunum lesion scores in Eimeria-challenged broilers (P < 0.05). By increasing the PHE levels, total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels increased (P < 0.05), while the Eimeria challenge reduced TAC, SOD, and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) levels (P <0.05). In general, the use of PHE in the broilers diet improved the antioxidant capacity, birds performance, but diminished the excreta oocytes and lesion scores with no negative effect on the intestinal morphology.

Impact of different levels of probiotic on productive performance, nutrient retention of broiler chickens fed low protein diets.

Objective: This research assesses whether probiotics could enhance growth performance and improve nutrient digestibility in birds fed with low-protein diets. Materials and Methods: A total of 250 1-day-old ROSS chicks were used in a completely randomized design consisting of 5 treatments with 5 replicates and 10 birds for each replicate. The experimental diets were as follows: basal diet containing 100% crude protein (CP) according to Nutrition Research Council recommendation (control diet); basal diet containing CP 10% less than the control diet low protein (LP); LP with addition of probiotic by 50 mg/kg diet (LP + P1); LP with addition of probiotics by 100 mg/kg diet (LP + P2); LP with an addition of probiotics by 150 mg/kg diet (LP + P3). Results: Broilers fed with the control, LP + P2, and LP + P3 diets had greater body weight and weight gain than broilers fed with the LP during starter, finisher, and total periods (p < 0.01). The feed conversion ratio was the best (p < 0.01) in the control and LP + P3 treatments compared with the LP and LP + P1 treatments throughout the experiment. The European production efficiency factor was the lowest in the LP treatment compared with other treatments from 1 to 42 days. Protein efficiency ratio and protein retention were both higher in birds fed with the LP + P2 and LP + P3 diets compared to birds given the control and LP diets (p < 0.01). Conclusion: Adding probiotics to the diet remarkably improved the productive performance and nutrient digestibility of broiler-fed low-protein diets.