Effect of ginger powder in comparison with flavophospholipol antibiotic on growth performance, intestinal micro-flora and morphology, and immune response in broiler chickens

This experiment was conducted to study the effect of using ginger powder compared with flavophospholipol antibiotic on growth performance, jejunal morphology and ileal microbial population and antibody titer against sheep red blood cells in broiler chickens. Two hundred one-day-old male broiler chicks (Ross 308) were used in a completely randomized design with five treatments, and four replicate (10 birds per replicate) for 42 days. The experimental treatments were included: 1) basal diet without any additives (as control), 2) basal diet supplemented with 0.04 % Flavophospholipol, 3) basal diet contained 0.3% ginger powder, 4) basal diet contained 0.6% ginger powder, and 5) basal diet contained 0.9% ginger powder. According to the results, no significant differences were observed between different dietary treatments regarding the growth performance (daily weight gain, daily feed intake, and feed conversion ratio), and carcass characteristics (relative weight of the breast, thighs, heart, gizzard, liver, proventriculus, and abdominal fat) of the broiler chickens. The colony count of lactobacilli in the ileum of the birds fed with different levels of ginger powder were significantly higher than the control and antibiotic groups (p<0.01). The villi length and villi length to crypt depth ratio in the jejunum of the birds fed with ginger powder were significantly higher than the control and antibiotic groups (p<0.01). Antibody titer against sheep red blood in the serum of the birds fed with ginger powder and antibiotic were significantly higher in comparison to the control (p<0.01).