TITLE:
Influence of different levels of humic acid and esterified glucomannan on growth performance and intestinal morphology of broiler chickens
AUTHORS:
Seyed Mozafar S. M. Taklimi, Hassan Ghahri, Mohammad Asadi Isakan
KEYWORDS:
Broiler Chicks; Humic Acid; Esterified Glucomannan; Small Intestine
JOURNAL NAME:
Agricultural Sciences,
Vol.3 No.5,
September
21,
2012
ABSTRACT: A study was under taken to investigate the effect of dietary supplementations of humic acid and esterified glucomannan) on broiler performance and the morphological measurements of small intestine. Two hundred and ten day old broiler chicks were weighed and randomly assigned to seven treatment groups in triplicate. The dietary treatments included T1) control (basal diet without any additives), T2) basal diets supplemented with 0.1% humic acid, T3) basal diets supplemented with 0.2% humic acid, T4) basal diets supplemented with 0.3% humic acid, T5) basal diets supplemented with 0.1% esterified glucomannan, T6) basal diets supplemented with 0.2% esterified glucomannan and T7) basal diets supplemented with 0.3% esterified glucomannan. Different parameters including body weight gain (BWG), feed intake (FI), feed conversion ratio (FCR) and morphology of small intestine were evaluated during six weeks of experimental period. According to the results, at the end of experimental period, the highest average BWG were recorded in T4 group (fed with 0.3% humic acid), compared to control (T1) and other experimental groups (p