Background:

Some medicinal plants can stimulate growth in poultry.

Objective:

To compare the effects of dietary addition of virginiamycin antibiotic and galbanum plant (Ferula gummosa) on the performance, carcass characteristics, immune system, and blood factors of broiler chickens.

Methods:

A total of 250 one-day-old male Ross 308 broiler chickens were randomly assigned to five treatments with five replicates (10 birds per replicate). The treatments were: control (basal diet), virginiamycin (basal diet plus 0.1 g virginiamycin/kg of diet) or one of three levels of galbanum powder (2.5, 5, and 10 g galbanum/kg of diet).

Results:

Body weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio improved in the groups containing galbanum compared to the other groups (p<0.05). The percentage of liver, heart and abdominal fat decreased in the treatments containing 5 and 10 g galbanum compared to the control (p<0.05). Spleen weight and antibody titers against Newcastle disease and SRBC were significantly increased in the treatment containing 10 g of galbanum compared to the other treatments (p<0.05). The addition of galbanum powder resulted in a significant decrease in serum cholesterol, triacylglycerol, and LDL (p<0.05). Additionally, galbanum increased serum total protein, albumin, globulin, and HDL (p<0.05).

Conclusion:

Galbanum improves performance and the immune system of broiler chickens, and has similar growth promoting effects as virginiamycin.

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