Evaluation of the effect of Thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) and Ziziphora (Ziziphora tenuior L.) essential oils on intestinal microflora of broilers

Essential oils as growth stimulants play an important role in improving intestinal microflora and morphological properties and immune system in broiler chickens. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of Thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) and Ziziphora (Ziziphora tenuior L.) essential oils on intestinal microflora of broilers. For this purpose, 468 one day old male broilers (308 Ross strain) were divided into 13 treatments with 3 replicates (12 chicks per replicate). The treatments were administrated Thyme, Ziziphora and a mixture of both essential oils in two levels (0.15% and 0.3% of diet) using two routes of drinking water and food and studied from the age of 10 to 42 days. Two birds were selected from each replicate at 42 days old and were slaughtered after 12 hours of starvation. Then, a piece of ileum of each chick was cut for counting the microbial population and was transferred to the laboratory. Total counting of coliform and lactobacillus for each sample was performed and the results were analyzed with SPSS software. Total counting of coliform were the least in groups fed with 0.3% of mixture of Thyme and Ziziphora but it didn’t show significant difference in comparison with the control group. Total counting of lactobacillus were the most in groups fed with 0.3% of mixture of Thyme and Ziziphora in feed and it showed significant difference in comparison with the control group (p