ABSTRACT
The experiment was conducted to study the effect of chicory root powder on the gut performance of broilers. For this purpose, two hundred commercial male broiler chicks were randomly divided into 5 treatment groups with 8 replications of 5 birds each and reared in battery brooders up to 42 days of age. The experimental design consisted of; T1 basal diet (BD) without antibiotic, T2: BD + antibiotic (BMD at 500 gm/ton), T3: BD + chicory root powder (0.5%), T4: BD + chicory root powder (1.0%), T5: BD + chicory root powder (1.5%). The results revealed that supplementation of 1.0% chicory root powder recorded significantly (P<0.05) higher body weight gain, feed intake and better feed conversion ratio (FCR) compared to antibiotic, control and 0.5 & 1.5% chicory powder at 42 days of age. Supplementation of various levels of chicory root powder significantly (P<0.05) lowered (P<0.05) the pH in duodenum, jejunum, ileum and caecum compared to control. Supplementation of chicory root powder (0.5, 1.0 & 1.5%) significantly (P<0.05) decreased the E. coli and Salmonella counts and (P<0.05) increased the Lactobacilli counts in ileum when compared to control and antibiotic groups. Supplementation of chicory (1.0% and 1.5%) groups significantly (P<0.05) increased the villus height (VH), crypt depth (CD), VH:CD ratio and villus width (VW) in the duodenum, ileum and jejunum at 42 d of age. Supplementation of chicory 1.0% and 1.5% groups significantly (P<0.05) increased the goblet cell number in duodenum, jejunum and ileum of broilers. Therefore, chicory root powder (1.0 and 1.5%) can be used as an alternative to antibiotic for improving gut performance of broiler chicken.