Addition of avilamycin, mannanoligosaccharide and organic acids mixture to corn-soybean meal based broiler diets

Abstract

This study was conducted to compare the effects of mannanoligosaccharide (MOS) and organic acids mixture (OAM) alone or in combination as alternative feed additives to an antibiotic growth promoter (avilamycin) on the growth performance, some plasma parameters and histological parameters of the small intestine of male broiler chickens. The chicks were randomly assigned to 5 dietary treaatments: control, avilamycin, MOS, OAM and MOS plus OAM supplemented diets. The dietary treatments did not significantly influence the body weight gain, feed intake and feed efficiency from 7 to 42 day. No significant effect on some plasm,a parameters was observed by the dietary treatments. Crypt depths in the duodenum were not influenced by the dietary treatments. However, the depths of the crypts in the jejenum of the treatment groups decreased significantly (P&ltO.O5) compared with control. The depths of the crypts in the ileum were significantly reduced by supplementation of dietary avilamycin, MOS and MOS plus OAM in comparison to the control and diet supplemented with OAM only (P&lt0.05). It is possible that the level of mannanoligosaccharide and organic acids mixture used in the study was not sufficient to elicit a significant response.