Evaluation of dietary supplementation of Aloe vera as an alternative to antibiotic growth promoters in broiler production

Year 2019, Volume: 3 Issue: 1, 21 - 26, 30.04.2019

Muhammad Zeeshan Akram , Muhamad Salman Hassan Jalal Umair Asghar Zeshan Ali Muhammad Hassan Javed Minahil Khan

Abstract

Objective: This
study was planned to evaluate the extracts of Aloe vera (AV) at three different
pH as a growth promoter, immunostimulant and coccidiostat agent in broiler production. 

Materials and Methods: This
experiment was undertaken for a period of 35 days in the Institute of Animal
Sciences, Faculty of Animal Husbandry, University of Agriculture Faisalabad,
Pakistan. A total of 150 day-old broiler
birds (Cobb) were randomly assigned to 5 treatments with 3 replicates of 10
chicks each. Birds were offered commercial broiler starter and finisher diets supplemented
with 100 mg/kg enramycin (ANT), 50 ml/liter AV of pH
3 (AV1), 50 ml/liter AV of pH 7 (AV2), 50
ml/liter AV of pH 12 (AV3) and only fresh
clean water (CON).

Results: The
results revealed that ANT and AV1 treatments caused a significantly (P<0.05)
increase in feed intake at 21 and 35 days of age and feed conversion ratio at
21 days of age. The highest weight gain was obtained by AV1 at 35 days of age
(P<0.05). Feeding diet AV1 and AV3 significantly (P<0.05) improved the serum
antibody titers against IDBV (Infectious bursal disease and Newcastle disease
vaccine respectively. Fecal shedding of coccidial oocysts decreased 47.3, 39.6, 34.5 and 32.1% in AV1,
AV3, ANT and AV2 respectively as compared to un-supplemented group (CON). 

Conclusion: Being
an herbal product and alternative to antibiotic growth promoters AV1 treatment
showed relatively better results on growth performance parameters, immune
response and coccidiosis in broiler chicken.

Keywords

Newcastle disease; Infectious bursal disease; immunity; antibiotics; growth promotors

References

• Reference1: Zafar Hayat (Poultry Nutrition) [e-mail]
• Reference 2: Abdur Rehman Sial (Poultry Nutrition) [e-mail]
• Reference 3: Mubarik Mehmood (Animal Nutrition) [e-mail]