ehsan shahrami; mohammad jabbari rad; seyed abdollah hosseini; mehdi eftekhari
Volume 22, Issue 4 , December 2020, , Pages 609-618
Abstract
This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different levels of dill powder on growth performance, hormonal immune system and cecal microbial population of broiler chickens using 420 mail broiler Ross 308 strain in a completely randomized design with 5 treatments and 6 replicates. The ...
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This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different levels of dill powder on growth performance, hormonal immune system and cecal microbial population of broiler chickens using 420 mail broiler Ross 308 strain in a completely randomized design with 5 treatments and 6 replicates. The treatments were including control diet, diets containing 0.2, 0.5 and 1 percent dill powder and a diet that contained 200 mg/kg flavomycin antibiotic. Body weight gain and feed conversion ratio were higher in chickens fed with flavomycin and dill powder at the levels of 0.5 and 1% in diet (P<0.05). Abdominal fat was lower in birds received 1% dill powder than those administrated by antibiotic and control group (P<0.05). The Escherichia coli and lactobacilli count in birds fed dill powder containing diets were lower and higher than birds fed control and antibiotic containing diets, respectively (P<0.05). Second antibody titer against SRBC was higher in birds fed by 1% dill powder in diet compared to birds fed the control diet (P<0.05). In challenge with NDV and influenza viruses, birds fed dill powder had higher antibody titer compared to those fed control and antibiotic containing diet (P<0.05). According to results of the present experiment, using 0.5 or 1% dill powder in diet improves performance, immune responses and intestinal microbial environment of broiler chickens and can be used as a good replacement for antibiotic growth promoters.