Effect of Dietary Additives of OTC, Probiotic and Citric Acid on Growth Rate, Blood Parameters and Intestinal Morphology of Broiler Chickens

Abstract

Thisstudy was amid to evaluate the effect of supplementation of oxytetracylin(OTC), probiotic (Pro.), and citric acid (CA) separately on growth ratehematological, intestinal microflora and morphology of broiler chickens. Atotal of 270 one- day old male broiler chickens (Ross 308), were randomly keptinto six groups floor pens consisting 3 replicates of 15 birds each. Treatmentwere as following: T1 (control diet without supplement), T2supplementing with OTC (0.5 g/ kg); T3 and T4supplementing with CA (1.0 or 1.5 g/ kg diet respectively), T5 and T6supplementing with CA (1.0 or 1.5 g/ kg diet respectively). The results showed,there were significant increase in weight gain in broilers fed T3and T4 dietary treatments, and no significant difference between theother treatments. Significant decrease in RBC, PCV and Hb, while increased inWBC, Lymphocytes, ALT and AST in birds supplemented with T2 dietarytreatment. The diet containing OTC T2 and CA T6 causedreduced in micoflora count in jejunum area. There was significant increase invilli height and crypt depth for T6 while there was significantdecrease in T2. In conclusion, probiotic and citric acid are goodalternative to antibiotics in promoting growth, and beneficial modulation ofintestinal micoflora and improve intestinal morphology.