Document Type : Articles
Authors
1 Department of Animal Production, College of Agriculture - University of Anbar, Iraq
2 Department of Animal Production, College of Agriculture, Tikrit University, Iraq
Abstract
The spread of food-borne illnesses through poultry is a major issue in many countries, including Iraq. Bacteria can be present in poultry products if proper hygiene and sanitation protocols are not followed during production and processing. This research aimed to examine the impact of zeolite on performance, immunity parameters, and gut histology. A total 162 one-day old broiler chickens were randomly assigned to a control group and two natural zeolite-supplemented groups, each containing 54 birds (with three replicates/group and 18 chickens/replicate). The group (control) was without any additives, while the other two groups were fed diets containing 1% or 0.5% natural zeolite (NZ). The findings indicated that the groups receiving 1% and 0.5% natural zeolite (NZ) showed significantly (p<0.05) higher BW and BWG compared to the group (control). Feed conversion ratio was affected by 0.5% natural zeolite (NZ) supplement compared to the control. There were no significant differences in production index (PI), spleen (%), bursa of Fabricius (%), total WBC, lymphocytes, heterophils and H/L ratio between the natural zeolite (NZ) groups and control. The research revealed that zeolite may have a beneficial effect on gut histology in broiler. Therefore, using zeolite as a feed supplement for poultry could improve performance
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