Premium
Effects of carboxy methyl cellulose and thymol + carvacrol on performance, digesta viscosity and some blood metabolites of broilers
Author(s) -
Hashemipour H.,
Kermanshahi H.,
Golian A.,
Khaksar V.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of animal physiology and animal nutrition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.651
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1439-0396
pISSN - 0931-2439
DOI - 10.1111/jpn.12121
Subject(s) - thymol , carvacrol , chemistry , triglyceride , food science , zoology , cholesterol , biochemistry , essential oil , biology
Summary This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of thymol + carvacrol as plant essential oils on performance, digesta viscosity and some blood metabolites of broilers fed diets supplemented with carboxy methyl cellulose ( CMC ) and/or thymol+carvacrol. In a completely randomized design with a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement, two levels of CMC (0% and 2%) and three levels of thymol+carvacrol (0, 100 and 200 mg/kg) were used. Each of the six dietary treatments was fed to five replicate pens of 12 birds each from 0 to 42 days of age. Body weight gain ( BWG ), feed intake, feed conversion ratio ( FCR ), intestinal digesta viscosity and p H , plasma lipids and some blood metabolites were recorded. The inclusion of 2% CMC decreased (p < 0.05) BWG by 2.2% and increased FCR by 2.3% at 42 days of age. Carboxy methyl cellulose significantly increased the digesta viscosity and decreased serum total cholesterol, but had no significant effect on triglyceride, p H , HDL , LDL and other blood metabolites measured in this experiment. Thymol+carvacrol had no effect on feed intake, but significantly increased (p < 0.05) BWG from 1 to 42 days of age and improved FCR (p < 0.05) by the addition of 100 and 200 mg/kg thymol+carvacrol respectively. Inclusion of thymol+carvacrol at levels of 100 and 200 mg/kg in the diets decreased digesta viscosity and serum total cholesterol (p < 0.05) and also increased AST at a 200 mg/kg thymol+carvacrol without any effect on creatine kinase ( CK ). Thymol+carvacrol significantly increased total protein ( TP ), albumin and globulin (p < 0.05). In conclusion, CMC at an inclusion level of 2% of diet increased digesta viscosity and reduced growth performance. However, thymol+carvacrol decreased digesta viscosity and consequently improved the performance of broilers fed the CMC ‐based diet. Therefore, thymol+carvacrol addition to viscose‐based diets might be helpful to alleviate the negative effects of viscous compounds in poultry diets.