GARLIC EXTRACT AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE GROWTH PROMOTERS IN BROILER CHICKENS

Abstract

A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of the inclusion of garlic extract (GE) and to determine its effect on the absorption surface of the duodenum as a potential alternative to growth promoters in broiler chickens. We used 300 chickens, male and female, which were one day old, commercial stock CobbAvian, and they were distributed at random into three experimental units of 100 chickens each one. The diet of the broiler chickens was supplemented with doses 0 %, 0.5 % and 1 % GE. The variables valuated were: production indicators, intestinal morphometry, heart rate and internal parasites presence. It was observed that the inclusion of 1 % of GE in the diet improved the broiler chickens’ body weight gain (P <0.05) and the feed conversion rate was favorable for the inclusion of 0.5 % GE (P <0.05) however there were no significant differences in feed intake, mortality, heart rate, and presence of internal parasites. For the histological analysis it was determined that the inclusion of 1% GE was statistically larger (P <0.05) on parameters such as the intestinal villus height and width, crypt depth and apparent area of the villus, and no differences were found to the relation between villus/crypt. It can be concluded that the inclusion of GE has an effect on intestinal health, which can be related to an improvement in production indicators, serving as an alternative to growth promoters.