Evaluation of dietary supplementation of Aloe vera as an alternative to antibiotic growth promoters in broiler production

Abstract

Objective: This study was planned to evaluate the extracts of Aloe vera (AV) at three different pH as a growth promoter, immunostimulant and coccidiostat agent in broiler production. Materials and Methods: This experiment was undertaken for a period of 35 days in the Institute of Animal Sciences, Faculty of Animal Husbandry, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan. A total of 150 day-old broiler birds (Cobb) were randomly assigned to 5 treatments with 3 replicates of 10 chicks each. Birds were offered commercial broiler starter and finisher diets supplemented with 100 mg/kg enramycin (ANT), 50 ml/liter AV of pH 3 (AV1), 50 ml/liter AV of pH 7 (AV2), 50 ml/liter AV of pH 12 (AV3) and only fresh clean water (CON).Results: The results revealed that ANT and AV1 treatments caused a significantly (P<0.05) increase in feed intake at 21 and 35 days of age and feed conversion ratio at 21 days of age. The highest weight gain was obtained by AV1 at 35 days of age (P<0.05). Feeding diet AV1 and AV3 significantly (P<0.05) improved the serum antibody titers against IDBV (Infectious bursal disease and Newcastle disease vaccine respectively. Fecal shedding of coccidial oocysts decreased 47.3, 39.6, 34.5 and 32.1% in AV1, AV3, ANT and AV2 respectively as compared to un-supplemented group (CON). Conclusion: Being an herbal product and alternative to antibiotic growth promoters AV1 treatment showed relatively better results on growth performance parameters, immune response and coccidiosis in broiler chicken.