Drinking water supplementation of licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra L. root) extract as an alternative to in-feed antibiotic growth promoter in broiler chickens
1 Department of Animal Science, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran
2 Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran
Research Article
GSC Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2017, 01(03), 020–028
Article DOI: 10.30574/gscbps.2017.1.3.0039
Publication history:
Received on 29 September 2017; revised on 08 November 2017; accepted on 15 November 2017
Abstract:
The present study was conducted to determine the efficacy of licorice extract (LE) supplementation through drinking water as an alternative to an in-feed antibiotic growth promoter. A total of 400, 1-day-old broiler chickens (Cobb 500) were randomly divided into 20 separate floor pens each comprising 20 chickens and 4 pens (replicates) per treatment in a completely randomized design. The treatments included a control (no input), a diet containing 5 mg/kg antibiotic (lincomycin), and drinking water supplemented with 0.1, 0.2, or 0.3 g/L of LE, respectively. The body weight, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio were not significantly different among treatment groups (P > 0.05). Birds given drink water supplemented with 0.3 g/L of LE had significantly decreased abdominal fat percentage relative to control group (P < 0.05). Moreover, comparing with control, serum concentrations of glucose, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and total cholesterol were decreased by LE supplementation at all three tested levels (P < 0.05). Dietary supplemental of antibiotics also caused significant decreases in total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations (P < 0.05). These results clearly showed that LE supplementation via drinking water had beneficial and positive influences on carcass quality and blood biochemical parameters of broiler chickens. However, because no significant difference was observed on growth performance among the broilers given the control, antibiotic, or the LE levels, further research is still needed to confirm the present results and to test the efficacy of LE as an alternative to an in-feed antibiotic growth promoter.
Keywords:
Performance; carcass trait; blood biochemical parameters; licorice extract; antibiotic
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Copyright © 2017 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0.
