Influence of the prebiotic Salgard and a herb mixture on Pekin ducklings in organic poultry production, part II: Histological and microbiological investigation

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to study the influence of the prebiotic Salgard and an herb mixture (rosemary, thyme, basil, oregano and cinnamon) on the histostructure of some internal organs and on the intestinal microflora of Pekin ducklings in an organic production system. Seventy two Pekin ducklings distributed randomly into 3 groups of 24 birds each and sexed (12 ♂and 12 ♀) were used as followed: group I (control) fed a standard diet; group II-fed the same diet supplemented with the prebiotic Salgard at a concentration of 0.15 %, and group III-fed the same diet supplemented with 0.15 % of a herb mixture in an equal proportion (0.03% of each herb-rosemary, thyme, basil, oregano and cinnamon). At slaughter, material for histological examination was obtained from the ileum, the caeca, the liver and the kidneys of birds. Faecal content from the ileum and the caeca were submitted to microbiological analysis. The addition of Salgard in a concentration of 0.15 % to the diet of Pekin ducklings contributed to significant increasing the length of the villi intestinales (P<0.001) and diameter of intestinal glands (P<0.01) in the ileum and epithelial height (P<0.05) in the caeca, as well as with a reduction of pathogenic intestinal microorganisms in the birds that received the prebiotic and herb mixture.

Effect of Magnetic Water Treatment and Some Additives on Growth Performance, Some Blood Biochemical Parameters and Intestinal Health of Growing Pekin Ducklings

“…They suggest that medicinal plants decrease the total harmful bacteria in the intestinal wall and cause a reduction in production of toxic compounds and damage to intestinal epithelia cells such as shorter villi and deeper crypt. That explanation supported by those obtained by (Gerzilov et al, 2011b) they showed that using of herb extract for Pekin duckling non significantly increased intestinal villi when compared with the control. Regarding MWT, it was observed that magnetic water increase intestinal villi length which confirm improvement of nutrient absorption and body weight of growing Pekin ducklings when compared with control.…”

Plant usage in protecting the farm animal health

“…A significant bactericidal and fungicidal activity is displayed also by Chenopodium botrys L., Chenopodiaceae (Maksimović et al, 2005) and Ambrosia artemisiifolia L., Asteraceae (Chalchat et al, 2004). The addition of prebiotic and herb mixture (resemary, thyme, sweet basil, oregano and cinnamon) to the diet of Pekin ducklings contributed to reduction of pathogenic intestinal microorganisms (Gerzilov et al, 2011).…”