Effects of a combination of butyric acid glycerides and clove oil on immune response and ileal morphology of broilers

Abstract

Introduction : This study was conducted to investigate the effect of different levels of butyric acid glycerides and clove oil on growth performance, immune response and ileum morphology of broiler chickens Materials & Methods: A total of 300 mixed broiler chickens of the Ross 308 strain (150 male
and 150 female) with a factorial arrangement of 2x3 with two levels of butyric acid glycerides (0 and 0.2%) and three levels of clove oil (0, 500 and 1000 mg/kg) were used in a completely randomized design with 6 treatments, 5 replications, and 10 birds per replication. Results : The result showed that use of 0.2% butyric acid glycerides in the diet of broiler chickens reduced the feed intake and the weight of chickens (p<0.05). The feed intake and weight of chickens showed a significant decrease by adding 1000 mg/kg clove oil to the diet (p<0.05). Using a diet without butyric acid glycerides and supplemented with 500 ppm clove oil increased the weight of broilers compared to other experimental treatments (p<0.05). Chickens that were fed with a diet without butyric acid glycerides and 500 mg/kg clove oil, as well as a diet containing 0.2% butyric acid glycerides and without clove oil, showed the best feed conversion ratio compared to other groups. (p<0.05). The use of experimental treatments did not affect any of the parameters related to the immune response of broilers (p>0.05). The use of experimental treatments had no significant effect on any of the parameters related to the morphology of broiler ileum (p>0.05). Conclusion: In general, the results of this experiment showed that not only no synergistic effect was observed between butyric acid glycerides and clove oil on the growth performance of chickens, but also adding levels of 1000 mg/kg of clove oil with 0.2 butyric acid glycerides had a negative effect on growth performance.