The impact of feeding clove essential oils and organic acids on immunity, gut health and economics of broiler production

Abstract

In this experiment the effect of dietary supplementation of clove essential oil and organic acids alone or in combinations on immunity and gut health of broilers was investigated. A total of 420 ‘Vencobb-400’ broilers were divided into 8 dietary treatments with 3 replicates of 20 chicks each. The control group (A) received basal diet and the dietary different treatment group B received basal diet supplemented with clove essential oil at 200 mg/kg, whereas, groups C, D and E received basal diet supplemented with sorbic acid, fumaric acid and propionic acid at a dose of 1%, and groups F, G and H received basal diet with combination of clove essential oil at 200 mg/kg along with sorbic acid, fumaric acid and propionic acid at a dose of 1%, respectively. The different dietary treatment found to significantly (P< 0.01) influence the immune responses against ND at 6th week of age. The total viable count was reduced significantly (P< 0.01) in all treatment groups compared control. The E. coli count was significantly (P< 0.01) reduced in treatment group G, H and F offered blend of organic acid and clove essential oil compared to control and other treatment groups. The study suggests that modulation of broiler gut microbiota composition and enhance immunity through the administration of combination of essential oil and organic acids offers an effective means for improving economics of broiler production. Furthermore, the combination of clove essential oil with fumaric acid gave the best results in this experiment.