Impact of Dietary Ginger (Zingiber officinale) Inclusion on Microbial Population in the Intestinal Content in Broiler

Abstract

The use of chemical additives and antibiotic made a lot of problems on human health, for example cancer and decrease immunity, for this reason the European Union and many countries don’t allow using antibiotics and many types of chemical additives for feeding animals. Researchers have proven the presence of the chloramphenicol metabolites in meat production, and they found that there may be a relationship between the presence remains of antibiotics in meat muscles and the occurrence of the plastic anemia in humans. The present study was aimed to evaluate the impact of ginger powder as supplement diet on chicken microbial population. Overall number of 120 unsexed one-day-old chicks (Cobb 500) were severed randomly into four treatment groups (n=30) the group was severed in to three replicates, according to a completely randomized design (CRD), for 42 days. The first group (C) is control was by fed basal feed mixture without feed additives and antibiotics. After first week ginger powder was add on the basal diet at a rate of (0.2%, 0.4% and 0.6%) resulting in (T1, T2 and T3) Feed intake.  At the final of the experimental the chicken was killed the microbial count recorded. The ginger had highly significantly (P ≤ 0.001) positive impact by causes the absence of salmonella bacteria in the digesta of ileo-cecum. The effects of ginger aromatherapy had a positive impact on the gut microbiota, reducing their loads compared to the control group, which contributed to some extent to maintaining health. The study highlights ginger as a promising natural alternative to antibiotic growth promoters in broiler diets, improving growth and reducing harmful bacteria like Salmonella spp. Further evaluation of lower doses, preparation methods, and standardized guidelines is needed to ensure cost-effectiveness and consistent results.