Supplementation of chicory root powder as an alternative to antibiotic growth promoter on gut pH, gut microflora and gut histomorphometery of male broilers

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 16; no. 12; p. e0260923
• Main Authors: Gurram, Srinivas, V, Chinni Preetam, K, Vijaya Lakshmi, M V L N, Raju, M, Venkateshwarlu, Bora, Swathi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 16-12-2021; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Age; Alternative medicine; Animal Feed - analysis; Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; Antibiotics; Biology and Life Sciences; Birds; Body weight; Body weight gain; Broilers (Poultry); Cell number; Chickens; Chicory; Cichorium; Cichorium intybus - chemistry; Conversion ratio; Design of experiments; Diet - veterinary; Dietary Supplements; Duodenum; E coli; Ethics; Experimental design; Feed conversion; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Gastrointestinal Tract - drug effects; Growth; Health aspects; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Identification and classification; Ileum; Jejunum; Lactobacilli; Male; Males; Medicine and Health Sciences; Microbiota (Symbiotic organisms); Microflora; pH effects; Poultry; Powder; Powders - administration & dosage; Prebiotics; Prevention; Probiotics; Salmonella; Small intestine; Vijaya Lakshmi; Villus; India
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260923

The experiment was conducted to study the effect of chicory root powder on the gut performance of broilers. For this purpose, two hundred commercial male broiler chicks were randomly divided into 5 treatment groups with 8 replications of 5 birds each and reared in battery brooders up to 42 days of age. The experimental design consisted of; T1 basal diet (BD) without antibiotic, T2: BD + antibiotic (BMD at 500 gm/ton), T3: BD + chicory root powder (0.5%), T4: BD + chicory root powder (1.0%), T5: BD + chicory root powder (1.5%). The results revealed that supplementation of 1.0% chicory root powder recorded significantly (P<0.05) higher body weight gain, feed intake and better feed conversion ratio (FCR) compared to antibiotic, control and 0.5 & 1.5% chicory powder at 42 days of age. Supplementation of various levels of chicory root powder significantly (P<0.05) lowered (P<0.05) the pH in duodenum, jejunum, ileum and caecum compared to control. Supplementation of chicory root powder (0.5, 1.0 & 1.5%) significantly (P<0.05) decreased the E. coli and Salmonella counts and (P<0.05) increased the Lactobacilli counts in ileum when compared to control and antibiotic groups. Supplementation of chicory (1.0% and 1.5%) groups significantly (P<0.05) increased the villus height (VH), crypt depth (CD), VH:CD ratio and villus width (VW) in the duodenum, ileum and jejunum at 42 d of age. Supplementation of chicory 1.0% and 1.5% groups significantly (P<0.05) increased the goblet cell number in duodenum, jejunum and ileum of broilers. Therefore, chicory root powder (1.0 and 1.5%) can be used as an alternative to antibiotic for improving gut performance of broiler chicken.