Performance, Carcass Yield and Gut Microflora of Broiler Chickens Offered with Viola odorata Leaf Extract in Drinking Water

The cross resistance of antibiotics from birds to human advocated using of herb extract.120 day old broiler chickens of Arbor Acres strain were used for the study. Birds were randomly allotted into four experimental treatments with three replicate of ten birds per replicate. T1 control without antibiotics, T2 with antibiotics (Amoxycol® wsp containing Amoxycillin 200 mg + collistin sulphate 1,000,000iu) at 1 g/litre of drinking water, T3 contain 10% Viola odorata extracts offered at 1 ml extract/1 litre of drinking water, while T4 contain 20% Viola odorata extracts offered at 1 ml extract/1 litre of drinking water. The birds were exposed to the same environment, feeds and water were given ad libitum and other routine management practices were carried out. Significant differences (P>0.05) existed in the daily feed intake, total feed intake and feed conversion ratio. Birds on 20% extracts recorded the highest feed intake while birds on T3 10% extract consumed the least. Broiler chickens on 10% extracts recorded best feed conversion ratio. Increased feed intake and digestive secretions were observed in animals offered phytobiotic-supplemented feed. The gut microflora showed significant difference (P>0.05) existed between the population of Proteus mirabilis, Staphylococcus aureus and total anaerobic bacteria counts. It was observed that Proteus mirabilis colony forming unit in broiler chickens fed diets containing antibiotics and 20% Viola odorata were 2.00 log10 of the organisms respectively. The result deduced in this study showed that the inclusions of the leaf extracts at either 10% or 20% concentration has no detrimental effect to broiler chickens.