Dietary inclusion of feed additives in broilers: Effect on carcass characteristics, visceral and lymphoid organs and gut health

The present experiment was conducted on 288-day-old unsexed broiler chicks to evaluate the effect of dietary feed additives viz. neem leaf meal (NLM) and citric acid (CA) on carcass characteristics, visceral and lymphoid organs, and gut health in broiler chickens. The chicks were randomly distributed into 6 dietary groups of 48 birds per group, each having 4 replicates (12 birds per replicate) in a randomized block design. The birds were fed on a standard diet without any supplementation control (T0); and with supplementation of NLM 2.5 g/kg of feed (T1); CA 15 g/kg of feed (T2); CA 25 g/kg of feed (T3); NLM 2.5 g + CA 15 g/kg of feed (T4); NLM 2.5 g + CA 25 g/kg of feed (T5). Eight birds from each treatment (2 per replicate) were randomly selected for slaughter and collection of samples and microbial study at day 42. The yield of the carcass, cut-up parts, and visceral organs, and length of the small intestine revealed comparable values without any adverse effect in the groups. The caecal E. coli population reduced significantly (P<0.05) in treatments T2 and T3 as compared to T0. The lower (P<0.05) caecal pH was observed in groups T1, T2, T3, T4, and T5 than T0. It can be concluded that feeding CA at 15 g and 25 g/kg of feed improved gut health without any adverse effect on the carcass and internal organs. Hence, supplementation of CA at two dietary levels i.e. 15 g and 25 g per kg of feed could be an alternative to produce healthy chickens.