Poljoprivreda (Dec 2014)
PRODUCTION AND HEALTH EFFECTS OF PROPOLIS AND BEE POLLEN AS FOOD ADDITIVES IN BROILERS FEEDING
Abstract
Propolis and bee pollen belong to a group of natural substances of animal and vegetable origin with a particu¬larly expressed antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. Recent studies in the world have pointed out to the possi¬ble application of propolis and bee pollen, each supplement separately or in combination in the certain proportion as additives in broilers feeding whereby the expected effects of these additives on the health of the chickens and the quality of their meat is still not fully investigated, nor unam¬biguously defined. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to determine the effect of propolis and bee pollen (each supplement separately or in combination in the certain proportion) as additives in broilers feeding on: production indicators in chickens, the values of selected blood (hema-tologic and biochemical) parameters in chickens, microbial flora of the intestinal content and the content of the chicken crop and the presence of a selected bacterial pathogens in cloacal swabs of a chickens, the morphology of the liver and intestines of chickens, chicken meat quality, the values of selected indicators in the feces of chickens and behaviour, health status, and mortality of chickens. The study was conducted on 200 Ross 308 chickens of equally distributed sex, divided into five groups (control and four experimental groups of chickens). Fattening was saw dust on the wooden floor and lasted for 42 days. The control group of chickens throughout the whole study was fed feed mixture while the feed mixture that was fed to experimen¬tal groups of chickens contained additives (propolis and/or bee pollen, each supplement separately or in combination in the certain proportion). The study showed that propolis and bee pollen (separately or in combination) had a signi¬ficant positive impact on the performance in broilers, the values of selected blood (hematologic and biochemical) parameters in chickens, the presence of selected bacterial pathogens in cloacal swabs of chickens as well as the size and composition of the microbial flora of the intestinal con¬tent and the content of the chicken crop, the morphology of the liver and intestines of chickens, chicken meat quality, values of selected indicators in the feces of chickens and behaviour, health status and mortality of chickens.
