Effect of Dietary Supplementation of Artemisia Siberia Powder and Extract on Intestinal Morphology in Broiler Chicks

The present trial was conducted to investigate the effect of different levels of Artemisia Siberia powder and ethanol extract on intestinal morphology in broiler chicks. A total of 480 day-old mixed sex broiler chicks (Ross 308) were randomly allotted to 8 dietary treatments with 5 replicates of 12 birds in a completely randomized design. Dietary treatments consisted of a control diet, antibiotic diet (0.02% virginiamycin), diets contain in 0.05, 0.10 and 0.20% Artemisia Siberia extract and diets contain in 0.50, 1.00 and 2.00% Artemisia Siberia powder, which fed during a 35 day trial period. At day 29 of age two birds per replicate were slaughtered to evaluate morphological alterations in jejunal epithelial cells. The results showed that, utilization of different levels of Artemisia Siberia powder and/ or extract increased jejunal villi height, while the smallest villi was assigned to the birds fed on control diet (P<0.05). From the present results, it seems that dietary utilization of Artemisia Siberia specially Artemisia Siberia extract in addition to elimination of antibiotics medications, could increase jejunal villi height in broiler chicks

Keywords:

Broiler chick , Artemisia Siberia , Antibiotic , Intestinal morphology