Effects of thymol and carvacrol supplementation on intestinal integrity and immune responses of broiler chickens challenged with Clostridium perfringens.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Necrotic enteritis caused by Clostridium perfringens infection leads to serious economic losses in the global poultry production. In the present study, we investigated the protective effects of essential oils (EO, which contained 25 % thymol and 25 % carvacrol as active components) supplementation on growth performance, gut lesions, intestinal morphology, and immune responses of the broiler chickens infected with C. perfringens. A total of 448 1-day-old male broiler chicks were allocated into eight treatment groups following a 4 × 2 factorial arrangement with four dietary EO dosages (0, 60, 120, or 240 mg/kg) and two infection status (with or without C. perfringens challenge from d 14 to 20).

Results

The challenge did not impair the growth performance of birds, bu

SUBMITTER: Du E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4802587 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature