Effects of dietary supplementation of synbiotics and phytobiotics on performance, caecal coliform population and some oxidant/antioxidant parameters of broilers.

The current study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation of synbiotics and phytobiotics on performance, small intestine weight, pH and caecal coliform counts of broilers. The influences of synbiotics and phytobiotics on oxidant/antioxidant status in the blood of broilers were also assessed. A total of 200 broiler chicks were randomly allotted to four dietary treatments, either fed a basal diet or the same diet supplemented with 1 g/kg synbiotic, 1 g/kg phytobiotic or 1 g/kg synbiotic plus 1 g/kg phytobiotic. The diet supplemented with both synbiotic and phytobiotic had no effect on body weight, body weight gain, feed intake and feed efficiency of broilers at the end of the study (p > 0.05). Neither small intestine weight nor pH was affected by any of the treatments. Supplementation of both synbiotic and phytobiotic to diet decreased the caecal coliform count (p < 0.01). Addition of synbiotics and phytobiotics in combination significantly increased plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) levels (p ≤ 0.05), whereasphytobiotic addition alone showed only a slight increase. Similarly, elevated nitric oxide (NO) level was recorded in the synbiotic- and phytobiotic-fed group and in the phytobiotic-fed group (p ≤ 0.001). Superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities did not differ between the groups. In conclusion, dietary supplementation of synbiotic and phytobiotic improved the gut health by decreasing the caecal total coliform count, but growth performance was not affected by the supplementations. Further investigations are needed to determine the effects of phytobiotics on oxidative/antioxidative metabolism as regards their compositional analysis.