Ileum

Bacteria

Biology

Animal science

Endocrinology

Probiotic

Biochemistry

Food science

Immunology

Genetics

Gizzard

Bifidobacterium

Immune system

Lactobacillus

Lactobacillus acidophilus

Completely randomized design

Antibiotics

Microbiology

Zingiber officinale

Enterococcus faecium

Medicine

Broiler

Lactobacillus casei

Fermentation

Traditional medicine

Animals

A total of 225 day-old male broiler chicks (Ross-308) were randomly allocated to five treatment groups, with three replicates in a completely randomized design for 42 days. Birds were fed a basal-diet supplemented with: no additive (control-diet), multi-strain probiotic (Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei, Enterococcus faecium and Bifidobacterium thermophilum), or 0.15, 0.20 and 0.25% ginger (Z. officinale) powder, respectively. The results show no significant differences among treatments for growth traits and carcass characteristics, whereas using probiotics and ginger at all levels resulted in a significant decrease of gizzard weight and abdominal fat compared to the control group. Dietary treatments did not affect blood biochemistry and antibody production against sheep red blood cells (SRBC), IgG and IgM; however, antibody titre was higher in birds fed 0.25% ginger than other diets after 7 days post injection. The Lactobacillus counts in ileal content of birds fed 0.20 and 0.25% ginger were higher compared to the other treatments. In conclusion, dietary supplementation with either ginger or probiotics showed a significant influence on birds' immune response, probably because ginger had strong antioxidant activity and the probiotics stimulated the production of natural antibodies.

Effect of Dietary Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) and Multi-Strain Probiotic on Growth and Carcass Traits, Blood Biochemistry, Immune Responses and Intestinal Microflora in Broiler Chickens