The effect of different levels of Lavender essential oil and bacitracin methylene disalicylate supplementation on performance, carcass traits, some blood parameters, small intestinal morphology and microflora in Japanese quails

Resumo

In order to investigate the effect of different levels of lavender essential oil and bacitracin methylene disalicylate antibiotics on performance, carcass traits, some blood parameters, small intestinal tissue morphology and intestinal microbial population in Japanese quails, a study was performed on 400 pieces of Japanese quail per day. The treatments included the group consuming the basic diet without any additives as (control) and the antibiotic bacitracin (0.25g.kg) and 3 levels (150, 200 and 250 ppm) of lavender essential oil per kg of feed in form of completely randomized design with 4 replications and 20 birds ( male and female) quail per each replication. In this experiment the daily weight gain, daily feed intake, feed conversion ratio, final live weight, relative carcass weight, breast, thigh, gingival, liver, some blood parameters, intestinal tissue morphology and small intestinal microbial population were examined. The results showed that the use of lavender essential oil and bacitracin antibiotics increased the daily feed intake of quails. The results of different weeks of the experimental period showed an increase in daily weight in quails consuming lavender essential oil and antibiotics compared to the control group. In addition, in general, the feed conversion ratio using essential oils and antibiotics decreased compared to the control group during different breeding periods. The results show a slight decrease in the relative percentage of body weight, liver and an increase in the weight percentage of empty breasts, thighs and carcasses of the studied quails under the influence of lavender essential oils and antibiotics. The Serum albumin levels of quails increased significantly under the influence of experimental diet (P≤0.05). The highest serum globulin level was affected by the use of lavender essential oil with antibiotics at the level of 250 ppm (P≤0.05). The results also showed that the serum level of HDL increased under the influence of essential oil in the diet (P≤0.05). Additionally the serum triglyceride and LDL levels decreased due to lavender essential oil consumption (P≤0.05). Intestinal tissue morphology showed that there was no statistically significant difference in changes in width, length, height and intestinal mucosal muscle in the studied quails. The Ecoli colonies decreased and the number of Lactobacillus bacterial colonies increased (P≤0.05). In general, the results obtained from this study showed the usefulness of using lavender by-products and antibiotics of bacitracin on performance, some carcass traits and blood and morphological parameters of intestinal tissue in experimental quails.