| Livestock Research for Rural Development 34 (4) 2022 | LRRD Search | LRRD Misssion | Guide for preparation of papers | LRRD Newsletter | Citation of this paper |
A study was carried out to determine the effect of green onion (Allium fistulosum) and garlic (Allium sativum) aqueous extract supplementations in drinking water on growth performances, carcass quality and intestinal microflora of local chicken (Noi). A total of 240 Noi chickens at the 5 weeks of age were randomly distributed in a completely randomized design experiment, with 3 treatments and 4 replicates, each replicate consisted of a pen with 20 female chickens/pen, the experimental data was collected during 9 weeks. Treatments used: (1) Control (Cont): Basal diet (B) without any supplementation in drinking water; (2) OAE: B + 1% onion aqueous extract in drinking water; (3) GAE: B+ 1% garlic aqueous extract in drinking water.
The results showed that the use of green onion and garlic aqueous extracts had significant improved (P<0.05) in final weight and feed conversion ratio. Maximum final weight (1622.3 g/chicken), daily gain (20,9 g/head/day), and the lowest feed conversion ratio (3.0 g feed/g gain) was related to group GAE. Average daily feed intake was not affected by green onion or garlic aqueous extract supplementations (P>0.05). Adding green onion or garlic aqueous extract in drinking water reduced Salmonella.spp; E. coli and Clostridium perfringens in the feces of Noi chickens. Both treatments did not affect the carcass yield of the birds, but little improvement of breast meat color (b*=9.48) of chickens in OAE compared to others. In general, garlic and green onion aqueous extract at the level of 1% in drinking water could be beneficial for improving final weight and feed conversion ratio and reducing Salmonella.spp; E. coli and Clostridium perfringens in the feces of Noi chickens in confirm house.
Keywords: garlic aqueous extract, green onion aqueous extract, growth performances, intestinal microflora, Noi chicken
Chicken production has an important role in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam Agriculture. In year 2021, chicken production occupy around 409.5 in total 512.6 million heads of total poultry production in the country, and increase around 7% compared with that in year 2020 (GSO 2021). Besides the development of raising industrial chicken breeds in large farms, there is a strong development of local chicken breeds such as Noi and Ac chickens rising in large and small farms. The production systems of small poultry producers show a significant variety from very low input systems, because of low performance, high morbidity and mortality. In Vietnam, the routine use of antibiotics in poultry diets have been banned, and thus the study found the solution for replace antibiotics in the chickens diets are really becoming an urgent need. Recently, there is an increasing interest in using of growth promoters of natural origin, in which herb is increasingly being used in poultry feeds as possible alternative means to prevent infectious diseases (Ahmed et al 2019). There are many studies done on using of herbal extracts as natural antioxidants, growth promoters and for disease prevention (Goodarzi et al 2014), or herbal powder supplemented in the diets (Kafi et al 2017; Le Thanh Phuong and Nguyen Thi Thuy, 2021)
Among many kinds of herbs, garlic and green onion are available in the Mekong Delta. Recently, there are many researches using garlic in powder form supplemented in chicken diets but not with green onion production. Using in fresh or aqueous extract have not been used in almost small and large chicken farms, thus there are few researches on using herbal aqueous extract to supplement in drinking water for growing chickens. So, this study was conducted to evaluate the effect of green onion and garlic aqueous extract supplementation in the drinking water on growth, carcass quality parameters and bacterial population in the feces of local chickens. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of green onion or garlic aqueous extracts supplementation in the drinking water as additive on growth performances, carcass evaluation, mortality and intestinal microflora of local Noi chickens.
The experiment was conducted in an experimental farm, in Thoi Lai district, Can Tho city. A total of 240, female Noi chickens at the 5 weeks of age were housed in floor bedded with rice husk. The treatment was designed in a completely randomized design, the chickens were randomly allocated to 3 treatments for 9 weeks feeding trial; each treatment had 4 replicate pens with 20 birds per each pen.
There were 3 treatments:
1/ Cont: Basal diet (B) without any supplementation in drinking water
2/ OAE: B + 1% of onion aqueous extracts in drinking water
3/ GAE: B + 1% of garlic aqueous extracts in drinking water
|
Table 1. Ingredients and chemical composition of basal diets |
|||
|
Variables |
5-9 weeks age |
9-14 weeks age |
|
|
Ingredients, % |
Maize meal |
40.4 |
43.2 |
|
Broken rice |
15.0 |
15.0 |
|
|
Rice bran |
14.2 |
15.5 |
|
|
Fish meal |
7.00 |
5.0 |
|
|
Soya meal |
19.00 |
17.0 |
|
|
Lysine |
0.03 |
0 |
|
|
Methionine |
0.10 |
0 |
|
|
Bone meal |
2.0 |
2.0 |
|
|
Shellfishmeal |
1.5 |
1.5 |
|
|
Premix |
0.77 |
0.8 |
|
|
Chemical |
ME, kcal/kg feed |
3000 |
3050 |
|
EE |
4.10 |
4.01 |
|
|
CP |
18.5 |
17.1 |
|
|
CF |
4.23 |
4.45 |
|
|
NFE |
67.5 |
69.3 |
|
|
Ca |
1.55 |
1.52 |
|
|
P |
0.52 |
0.51 |
|
Fresh green onion and garlic were purchased from local market, then cleaned, peeled and cut into small pieces with onion. The pieces of green onion or garlic were mixed salt (3g/kg) and water (150 ml/1 kg) and then were minced using electric blender. Hereafter, the mixtures were extracted through filter to get liquid portion as the green onion aqueous extract (OAE) or garlic aqueous extract (GAE), these aqueous extracts were made and supplemented daily.
Noi chickens (female) were raised in an open-sided house, in 12 pens (each 2 x 1.3m) separated by netting. Prior to starting the experiment, the chickens were vaccinated against common diseases (Gumboro, H5N1 and fowl pox). The chickens were weighed as one group of 20 birds in each pen, this was done at the beginning of the experiment and every week, always in the early morning before feeding. The data collections were average daily gain (g/head/day), average daily feed intake (g/head/day), feed conversion ratio (kg feed/kg gain) by the week. At the end of the experiment (14 weeks of age), four chickens/pen were selected to be slaughtered. The chickens were chosen for a 12-hour fasting (for water only) before surgery. Carcass parameters in chickens were slaughter weight, carcass weight, thigh and breast meat weigh, and abdominal fat, and breast meat was measure the color by colorimeter after surgery.
|
|
| Photo 1. Experimental chickens at 5 weeks age | Photo 2. Experimental chickens at 12 weeks age |
Fecal samples were collected at 12nd weeks of age, the levels of Lactobacillus, Salmonella. spp, E. coli and Clostridium perfringens in fecal samples were determined by the colony counting method. Fecal samples were directly collected at cloaca of 4-5 chickens/pen (about 50g feces/bag) and stored in cold storage. After that, homogenous fecal samples were transferred to the Biology Laboratory of Analysis Service Center in Can Tho city for counting the colony.
Collected data was analyzed by ANOVA using the General Liner Model (GLM) of Minitab Statistical Software Version 16. Tukey pair-wise comparisons were used to determine differences between treatment means at P<0.05. The statistical model used is as follows: Yij = µ + αi + eij
Where Yij is growth performances, meat color or intestinal microflora; µ is overall mean averaged over all treatments; αi is effect of treatment; eij is random error associated with treatment and replicate within treatment.
The chemical composition of basal feed was determined following Association of Official Analytical Chemists methods (AOAC 1990). Bacteria density in feces were tested according to specific methods: E. coli (Quantitative) was analyzed according to ISO-16649-2- 2001; Clostridium perfringens (Quantitative) by ISO 7937: 2004; Salmonella.spp (Qualitative) by ISO-6579-1: 2017; and Lactobacillus (Quantitative) by TCVN 8737: 2011. Breast meat color was recorded using a colorimeter (Chromameter Minolta, CR-400 Head, DP-400/ Japan), which indicated degrees of lightness of a breast meat sample (L), redness (a) and yellowness (b).
Both green onion and garlic aqueous extracts had no effect on average daily feed intake of experimental chickens during the period 9 weeks of feeding trial. However, effects of GAE and OAE were observed on final weight, average daily gain, feed conversion ratio and mortality of chickens (Table 2).
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Table 2. Growth performance of experimental chickens from 5-14 weeks age |
|||||
|
Variables |
Treatments |
SEM |
p |
||
|
Cont |
OAE |
GAE |
|||
|
Number of chickens |
80 |
80 |
80 |
- |
- |
|
Number of days |
63 |
63 |
63 |
- |
- |
|
Initial weight (5 weeks age) |
308.31 |
309.2 |
305.44 |
4.81 |
0.15 |
|
Final weight (14 weeks age) |
1511.2b |
1569.1ab |
1622.3a |
28.51 |
0.04 |
|
ADG (g/day) |
19.09 |
20.00 |
20.90 |
1.41 |
0.17 |
|
ADFI (g/head/day) |
59.86 |
60.16 |
62.90 |
3.15 |
0.46 |
|
FCR (kg feed/kg gain) |
3.13a |
3.01b |
3.00b |
0.04 |
0.04 |
|
Mortality (%) |
5.00 |
1.25 |
2,50 |
- |
- |
| Cont: Control diet (B) without supplementations in drinking water; OAE: B+ 1% green onion aqueous extracts in drinking water; GAE: B+1% garlic aqueous extracts in drinking water a,b Means within a row with different superscripts are significantly different (P<0.05) | |||||
The using of both green onion and garlic aqueous extract supplementations improved final weigh, but it seem that this effect has been more in garlic aqueous extract. This may be because both garlic and onion are among the common medicinal plants used as growth promoters, and the most important chemical constituents reported from Alliums are the sulfur compounds (Ali and Zahran 2010). Garlic has antimicrobial, antioxidant as well as antihypertensive properties, these functions were attributed to bioactive components present in garlic (Amagase et al 2001), and one of which is a sulphur-containing organic compound that could be responsible for the growth promoting effect of garlic. In addition, the plan metabolites may affect the physiological and chemical function of the digestive tract, and the stabilizing effect on intestinal microflora may be associated with intermediate nutrient metabolism (Jamroz et al 2003), lead to the improvement of total tract digestibility in broilers diet and lead to reduce feed conversion ratio.
 |
| Figure 1. Average daily gain of experimental chickens during 5-14 weeks age |
Moreover, the herbs especially green onion and garlic and some compound in them could act similar to antibiotic, so this compound reduced the growth of some harmful bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract of chickens (Goodarzi et al 2014), and the effect of onion on chicken performance probably is due to antibacterial and antifungal effects originated from some of its compound (Lee et al 2003). This may reduce the morbidity and mortality of the chickens and also may results in better efficiency in the feed utilization and can leads to better feed conversion ratio (Bedford 2000). Research of Aji et al (2011) also reported the useful influence of onion bulbs on growth yield of broiler. It may be expected that chicken diet supplementation with onion and garlic in the form of extracts standardized in terms of allicin will have a more positive effect on production.
There were no significant differences in the carcass yield of all the treatment groups of both green onion and garlic aqueous extracts when compared with control birds (Table3), but a little reduction of abdominal fat in supplemented chickens. And the breast meat color b* value (yellowness) of OAE groups were higher (P<0.05) than the control group.
|
Table 3. Carcass characteristic evaluation and breast meat color of chickens in the treatments |
|||||
|
Variables |
Treatments |
SEM |
p |
||
|
Cont |
OAE |
GAE |
|||
|
Slaughter weight (g) |
1560 |
1552 |
1550 |
23.3 |
0.08 |
|
Carcass weight (g) |
1055 |
1049 |
1044 |
20.9 |
0.36 |
|
Carcass yield (%) |
67.6 |
67.6 |
67.4 |
0.60 |
0.35 |
|
Thigh weight (g) |
335.8 |
340.0 |
339.2 |
8.12 |
0.65 |
|
Thigh proportion/carcass (%) |
31.8 |
32.4 |
32.5 |
0.61 |
0.58 |
|
Thigh meat weight (g) |
223.2 |
231.2 |
230.5 |
6.54 |
0.74 |
|
Thigh meat proportion/carcass (%) |
21.1 |
22.0 |
22.0 |
0.42 |
0.65 |
|
Breast weight (g) |
230.2 |
220.3 |
222.0 |
8.20 |
0.45 |
|
Breast proportion/carcass (%) |
21.8 |
21.0 |
21.3 |
0.70 |
0.72 |
|
Breast meat weight (g) |
190.6 |
184.3 |
180.5 |
5.46 |
0.26 |
|
Breast meat proportion/carcass (%) |
18.0 |
17.6 |
17.3 |
0.40 |
0.38 |
|
Liver weight (g) |
32.2 |
32.1 |
33.1 |
1.52 |
0.63 |
|
Abdominal fat, % |
3.10a |
1.85b |
1.65b |
0.15 |
0.04 |
|
Color of breast meat |
|||||
|
L* |
48.12 |
49.45 |
48.67 |
1.08 |
0.12 |
|
a* |
2.57 |
2.64 |
2.50 |
0.30 |
0.27 |
|
b* |
8.04b |
9.48a |
8.24b |
0.45 |
0.04 |
|
*Lightness (L), red-ness (a) and yellow-ness (b) |
|||||
Similar results with this study, Gbenga et al (2009) also reported that carcass and organ characteristics of broiler fed diet containing garlic were no affected by experimental treatments. In this study, the abdominal fat reduced in supplemented chickens compared with control chickens. It may be because, some of the active components in onion and garlic extract affect lipid metabolism through fatty acid transportation, this can increase the lipid utilization and decrease abdominal fat (Cross et al 2007).
The meat color is known to be associated with the degree of meat oxidation. L* and a* value were not differ from all treatments, but b* value of OAE chickens higher than that in the others. The yellowness color of meat and skin of broiler are always priority like for consumers. Green onions are characterized by their high content of the antioxidant allicin (Wang et al 2020), and green onions are rich in fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin B2, flavonoids, copper and potassium, which may improve the yellow color of meat and skin of chickens.
|
Table 4. Bacteria density in chicken feces at 12 nd weeks age of the experimental chickens |
||||||
|
Variables |
Treatments |
SEM |
p |
|||
|
Cont |
OAE |
GAE |
||||
|
Lactobacillus (CFU/g) |
6.63 |
6.45 |
6.21 |
0.32 |
0.16 |
|
|
Salmonella. spp/25g (+/-) |
Pos |
N |
N |
- |
- |
|
|
E. coli (106 CFU/g) |
3.15a |
2.50c |
2.67b |
0.03 |
0.02 |
|
|
Clostridium perfringens (105 CFU/g) |
1.26a |
1.15b |
1.13b |
0.02 |
0.04 |
|
|
a,b,c Means within a row with different superscripts are significantly different (P<0.05); Pos: Positive; N: Non detected |
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Supplementation with garlic and green onion aqueous extract at 1% in the drinking water reduced E. coli and Clostridium in the gastrointestinal tract of the chickens (Table 4). Among these bacteria,Lactobacillus is beneficial bacteria but Salmonella.spp, E. coli and Clostridium Perfringens are potentially pathogenic bacteria. Salmonella.spp were almost undetectable in supplemented chicken feces at 12nd weeks age. However, E. coli and Clostridium perfringens are quite high in chicken feces, but these reduced the numbers in supplemented chickens.
Both green onion and garlic aqueous extracts have most effect on decrease of total E.coli (P<0.05) in comparison to the control chickens. It may be because garlic have the major phytogenic compound called allicin, this compound is derived from naturally occurring amino acid allin which is transformed into allicin by the enzyme allinase, and can improve chicken health (Olobatoke and Mulugeta 2011), and these natural additives has prevented the development of harmful microorganisms in the intestines. The antibacterial effect of garlic allows classifying it among plants currently defined as phytobiotics to be used as potential feed additives (Diaz-Sanchez et al 2015). Iram et al ( 2012) also reported that, extensive research has proved that antimicrobial activity of herbs can prevent growth of pathogens in intestinal tract.
The author would like to thank to the manager of the Experimental farm for supplying all materials of the experiment. And also sincere gratitude thanks to Mr. Hoang; Ms. Ngan and Ms. Tuan for taking care the experiment.
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