Effect of dietary feed additives on haematological and serum biochemical parameters of broiler chickens

This study was amid to evaluate the effect of supplementation of oxytetracylin (OTC), probiotic (Pro.), and citric acid (CA) separately on growth rate hematological, intestinal microflora and morphology of broiler chickens. A total of 270 one- day old male broiler chickens (Ross 308), were randomly kept into six groups floor pens consisting 3 replicates of 15 birds each. Treatment were as following: T1 (control diet without supplement), T2 supplementing with OTC (0.5 g/ kg); T3 and T4 supplementing with CA (1.0 or 1.5 g/ kg diet respectively), T5 and T6 supplementing with CA (1.0 or 1.5 g/ kg diet respectively). The results showed, there were significant increase in weight gain in broilers fed T3 and T4 dietary treatments, and no significant difference between the other treatments. Significant decrease in RBC, PCV and Hb, while increased in WBC, Lymphocytes, ALT and AST in birds supplemented with T2 dietary treatment. The diet containing OTC T2 and CA T6 caused reduced in micoflora count in jejunum area. There was significant increase in villi height and crypt depth for T6 while there was significant decrease in T2. In conclusion, probiotic and citric acid are good alternative to antibiotics in promoting growth, and beneficial modulation of intestinal micoflora and improve intestinal morphology