OREGANO ESSENTIAL OIL AS ANTIMICROBIAL AGENT IN BROILERS DIET

The study was carried out to evaluate the dietary supplementation of oregano essential oil on performance and antimicrobial activity of broilers. A total of 250 day-old male were distributed in a completely randomized design divided into five groups with five replicates, each given a basal diet with avilamycin plus salinomycin (positive control) or a basal diet without added avilamycin and salinomycin (negative control) or basal diet with only added avilamycin or a basal diet supplemented with 0.5g of oregano oil/kg diet, or 1.0g of oregano oil/kg diet. It was observed lower frequency of gram-positive bacteria in the ileum of the negative control group compared to chickens treated with the positive control group or supplemented with oregano oil (p 0.05). It was observed that the use of 1.0g of oregano oil/kg diet resulted in the lower relative intestine weight (p 0.05). The results showed that the dietary oregano oil exerted growth-promoting effect on broilers at 1.0g of oregano oil/kg diet by the increase in the Lactobacillus spp. frequency and the decrease in intestinal weight in broilers.