Influence of dietary mannan-oligosaccharide and-tocopherol on intestinal microbiology and histomorphology in broiler chickens

Day-old Vencobb broiler chicks (240) were randomly assigned to 4 dietary treatment groups having 3 replicates of 20 birds each to study the effect of mannan oligosaccharide (MOS) and α-tocopherol (AT) on intestinal microbiology and histomorphology. The trial lasted for 7 weeks. The chicks of the control group (T₁) were fed a basaldiet. The birds in group T₂ were fed control diet as in T₁ + α-tocopherol at 400 IU per kg of feed; whereas, those in group T₃ were fed control diet as in T₁ + mannan-oligosaccharide at 0.4% and in group T₄ control diet was supplemented with α-tocopherol at 400IU per kg feed + mannan-oligosaccharide at 0.4% in feed. The results of study revealed that supplementation of MOS and AT in the diet of birds showed significant (P<0.05) lowering in cfu count of pathogenic bacteria, E.coli and Salmonella spp. as compared to the control group. The effect on the histomorphology of the birds also showed a significant (P<0.05) increase in the villi height (VH) and surface area (SA) of different parts of the intestine on supplementing the feed with MOS and AT. Thus, it was concluded that supplementation of MOS and AT improved the gut health and also had a positive influence on the microarchitecture and integrity of the intestine.