Effect of Different Levels of Clove Essential Oil on the Growth Performance, Lipid Metabolism, Immunity, and Intestinal Microbial Structure of Broiler Chickens

Abstract

his study aimed to evaluate the impact of different levels of clove essential oil (CEO) on the growth performance, cecal microbial status, and serum metabolites of broilers using it as an alternative to antibiotic growth promoters. Two hundred and fifty, one-day-old chicks of the Ross 308 strain were randomly divided into five groups, each having 50 chicks. The experimental groups were as follows: G1, a basal diet with no additive; G2, a basal diet supplemented with 20 mg/kg avilamycin; G3, G4, and G5 were supplemented with 100, 200, and 300 mg/kg clove essential oil, respectively. Results showed a linear relationship between the concentration of the CEO in the diet and growth performance. Body weight gain and feed conversion ratio were significantly (P < 0.05) higher in G3 and G4 compared to other groups, while feed intake was not affected. Carcass traits showed no noticeable differences, however, the intestine and bursa weight significantly (P < 0.05) increased in G4 and G3. CEO supplementation significantly increased (P < 0.05) serum immunoglobulin (IgA) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL), meanwhile, it significantly decreased low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and total cholesterol. Furthermore, CEO supplementation substantially improved the cecal microbial status of the ileum in G4, G3, and G2 by increasing Lactobacillus spp. count and decreased (P < 0.05) E. coli count. Based on the findings mentioned above, it can be concluded that supplementation of clove essential oil can improve the growth performance and enhance immunity and gut health of broilers and might be supplied as a potential alternative to antibiotics.

Effectiveness of probiotics and clove essential oils in improving growth performance, immuno-antioxidant status, ileum morphometric, and microbial community structure for heat-stressed broilers

“…Clove and its extracts ( Syzygium aromaticum ) are among the most used medicinal herbs for their high content of biologically active compounds that have antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. Moreover, it stimulates growth, immunity, and hypochelesterolemic activities 14 , which is due to its antimicrobial, antioxidant, and digestive properties 13 . We hypothesized that clove essential oils and probiotics combined might alleviate the adverse effects of heat stress on growth performance, by enhancing immuno-antioxidant status, and intestinal health.…”

Dietary clove (Syzygium aromaticum) powder enhanced broiler chicken growth performance, carcass characteristics, nutrient digestibility, gut histomorphometry and health-associated whilst decreasing pathogenic microbiota

“…Clove (Syzygium aromaticum; family Myrtaceae) ower buds contain high amounts of volatile essential oils, with eugenol being the dominant component, in addition to other phytochemicals that account for their numerous health bene ts (Arif et al 2022). Dietary clove supplementation improves nutrient absorption and utilization, growth performance, meat yield, immunity, bene cial intestinal bacteria (Elbaz et al 2022) as well as protein digestibility, nutrient availability and utilization in broilers (Kunnumakkara et al 2018). However, negative effects on growth performance with increasing inclusion levels of clove seed (Suliman et al 2021) or clove buds (Otham et al 2022) have also been reported.…”