Effects of oregano essential oil and attapulgite on growth performance, intestinal microbiota and morphometry in broilers

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to study the effects of a blend of oregano essential oil (OEO) (as a source of natural antibacterial growth-promoting substances) and attapulgite (as a source of toxin-binder and as an antidiarrhoeal agent) on growth performance, intestinal microbiota, and intestinal morphometry in broiler chickens (Ross-308). In the first trial, the control group was fed a basal diet without antibiotic growth promoters, and the experimental group was fed the basal diet supplemented with 5% OEO (OEO) (Ecodiar ® powder at 150 g/tn) and 80% attapulgite 80% (Ultrafed ® at 6 kg/tn) blend. In the second trial, the experimental group was given the basal diet supplemented with 5% OEO (Ecodiar ® powder at 300 g/tn) and 80% attapulgite (Ultrafed ® at 3 kg/tn) blend. Intestinal microbiota was enumerated by conventional techniques with selective agar media at the end of the trial at both ileum and caecum, and intestinal morphology was assessed in the duodenum, jejunum and ileum. Results showed that in the first trial, despite the positive impact on daily gain and feed-to-gain ratio, growth performance was not affected by the blend with OEO and attapulgite. Furthermore, no effect was found on intestinal morphometry. However, the counts of lactic acid bacteria were increased significantly, and coliforms were decreased in caecal contents. In the second trial, a positive impact was noticed on daily gain and feed-to-gain ratio by the high OEO and low attapulgite blend. Dietary supplementation of OEO and attapulgite increased ileal villus height and lactic acid bacteria significantly and reduced coliforms in ileal and caecal contents compared with the control group. In conclusion, the combination of OEO at 15 mg/kg and attapulgite at 2.4 g/kg exerted a positive effect on growth performance, ileal villus height and intestinal microbiota of broilers. ______________________________________________________________________________________

Performance, Carcass Variables, and Meat Quality of Broilers Supplemented with Dietary Mexican Oregano Oil

“…Contrary to results in the current study, Skoufos et al (2016) did not find any differences in BW of 28-d-old broilers fed0 or 15 mg oregano essential oil (OEO)/kg feed. Peng et al (2016) obtained higher BW in broilers fed 300 and 600 mg OEO /kg diet in the grower (1-21 d) and finisher (22-42 d) phases, which are similar to results observed in the current study with 200 to 1000 mg MOO/kg.…”

“…The null hypothesis (MOO treatment effects on breast meat quality are equal to the no-MOO control treatment) is based on the p-value according to a significance level determined atα = 0.05. Several studies have evaluated oregano essential oil supplementation at various levels (mg/kg) in feed: 300 (Alp et al, 2012;Skoufos et al, 2016), 65 (Bozkurt et al, 2012;Sun et al, 2015), 125 (Hong et al, 2012), 0, 60, 100 and 200 (Hashemipour et al, 2013), 15-60 (Khattak et al, 2014), 250 (Ghazi et al, 2015), 300 and 500 (Mohiti-Asli & Ghanaatparast-Rashti, 2015), 400-1600 (Silva Vazquez et al, 2015), 300 and 600 (Peng et al, 2016) and 400 (Méndez-Zamora et al, 2017). These studies obtained significant effects with all the OEO levels evaluated in broilers regarding, for example, BW, FI and FCR.…”

Effects of Oregano, Attapulgite, Benzoic Acid and their Blend on Chicken Performance, Intestinal Microbiology and Intestinal Morphology

“…Brenes and Roura (2010) and Hippensteil et al (2011) reported that the essential oils of certain herbs, can show positive effects in performance, but show no consistency in feed intake when supplemented to diets between 12 and 300 ppm. In previous studies, the use of oregano (herb or its major compounds) alone or in combination with benzoic acid were examined as candidate replacers of antibiotic growth promoters with controvertial results (Langhout, 2000;Symeon et al, 2009;Symeon et al, 2010;Giannenas et al, 2013Giannenas et al, , 2014aGiannenas et al, , 2014bGiannenas et al, , 2016bSkoufos et al, 2016). Dietary supplementation with oregano essential oil, attapulgite, benzoic acid or their mixture did not alter the protein and fat content of breast and thigh meat of broiler chickens, although higher levels of phenolic compounds were noticed in the groups fed oregano essential oil that could increase its antioxidant status.…”

Influence of β-galacto-oligosaccharide on growth performance and components of intestinal barrier in broilers during heat stress

“…To achieve optimal production targets, particularly during the summer months, the temperature of the shed must be maintained in a narrow range of 18 °C to 22 °C, which is costly (Yoo et al, 2016). Antibiotics were utilized in the poultry industry to reduce the adverse effects of environmental stress, but their use in animal feed was banned by the EU in 2006 (Skoufos et al, 2016). Therefore, many studies have explored dietary supplements that could not only improve the gut health of birds, but also replace growth promoting antibiotics.…”