Sahere Gharibi; Mohammad Houshmand; Reza Naghiha
Volume 17, Issue 2 , October 2015, , Pages 403-413
Abstract
This study was conducted to investigate the influences of raw or acetic acid-treated oak acornon the performance and cecal flora of broiler chickens. A total of 340 one-day-old male and female Cobb 500 broiler chicks were used in a completely randomized design consisting of five treatments with four ...
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This study was conducted to investigate the influences of raw or acetic acid-treated oak acornon the performance and cecal flora of broiler chickens. A total of 340 one-day-old male and female Cobb 500 broiler chicks were used in a completely randomized design consisting of five treatments with four replicates and 17 chicks each. First group was fed with a corn-based diet (without oak acorn) as control, while the chicks of groups 2, 3, 4 and 5 were fed with diets containing 20 or 25 percent raw or treated oak acorn, respectively. The results indicated that treatment with acetic acid significantly reduced content of the all phenol components (total phenol, total tannin and condensed tannins). Dietary inclusion of raw oak acorn at the levels of 20 and 25 percent, significantly reduced broilers body weight gain (P<0.05). However, this reduction was not observed for treated groups. Feeding with raw or treated oak acorn resulted in higher feed conversion ratio compared with the control group (P<0.05). E. coli and lactic acid bacteria counts were not affected by dietary treatments at 21 or 42 day of the study. In conclusion, dietary inclusion of 20 and 25 percent raw or treated oak acorn resulted in a significant reduction in broilers performance and hence, it is not recommended.