Effect of green tea (Camellia sinensis L.) as antimicrobial agent on growth performance and ileal histomorphology of broiler chickens

Abstract

We investigated the impact of green tea powder (GTP) as an alternative to antibiotics on growth performance and gut health in broilers. A total of 340 one-day-old broilers were assigned to four dietary treatments as control (free of antibiotic), antibiotic, GTP 0.5 g/kg (GTP-1) and GTP 1 g/kg (GTP-2). Overall, the antibiotic group demonstrated significantly (P < 0.05) higher feed intake, weight gain, lower feed conversion ratio and better dressing percentage compared to the GTP groups, and the control group had the lowest values. GTP-1 showed the highest (P < 0.05) villus height (VH), followed by the antibiotic group and GTP-2, while the control group had the lowest villus height. The control group displayed a higher (P < 0.05) crypt depth, followed by GTP-2, while the antibiotic group and GTP-1 had significantly (P < 0.05) lower crypt depth. The villus height to crypt depth ratio was significantly higher in GTP-1, followed by similar values in the antibiotic group and GTP-2, while the control group had the lowest ratio (P < 0.05). From the results of the present study, we concluded that GTP at the level of 0.5 g/kg of feed is an excellent dose vis-à-vis antibiotic in broiler for optimum growth performance and gut health.

Keywords

• Broiler
• green tea
• antibiotics
• growth
• gut morphology