Growth performance, ascites sensitivity, and ileal microbiota as affected by licorice essential oil in broiler chicken diets

• DOI: 10.1016/j.livsci.2021.104670
• Publication Date: 2021-08-16T05:50:51Z
• Authors: M. Geravand; S.D. Sharifi; A. Yaghobfar; A. Mohammadi; S.A. Hosseini; S. Ghazanfari
• Keywords: 2. Zero hunger; 0402 animal and dairy science; 04 agricultural and veterinary sciences

Abstract This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) essential oil (LEO) as an alternative to antibiotic growth promoter on growth performance, ileal microbial population, blood biochemical traits, and ascites sensitivity in broiler chickens. A total of 625 one-day-old broiler chickens were assigned to 5 dietary treatments, including control (un-supplemented basal diet), antibiotic (basal diet + 150 mg avilamycin/kg), probiotic (basal diet + 100 mg probiotic/kg), basal diet + 200 mg LEO/kg, and basal diet + 400 mg LEO/kg, in a completely randomized design, with 5 replicates of 25 broiler chickens per pen. Dietary inclusion of 200 mg LEO/kg increased feed intake compared to control and 400 mg LEO/kg treatments (P