Effect of Diet Supplementation with Pine Cone Extracts on Growth Performance, Digestive Organ Characteristics and Cecal Microbiota of Semi-broiler

This study investigated the effect of diet supplementation with pine cone extracts (pine cone ethanol extract: PCEE; pine cone ethanol-hexane extract: PCEHE) on growth performance, digestive organ characteristics and intestinal microbiota of semi-broiler. Twenty two-weeks-old semi-broilers were divided into four dietary groups (n=5/group; control(—): no antibiotics and pine cone extracts; control(+): 2% antibiotics [20 g/kg basal diet]; PCEE: 2% PCEE [20 g/kg basal diet]; PCEHE: 2% PCEHE [20 g/kg basal diet]). Chicks were reared and their diets were supplemented accordingly for 16 days. Final weight, weight gain and feed intake were lowest (P<0.05) in semi-broilers whose diet was supplemented with pine cone extracts, but both PCEE and PCEHE groups showed lower (P<0.05) feed conversion ratios compared to the control(—) group. Gizzard and small intestinal weight were also lower (P<0.05) in both PCEE and PCEHE groups than in the control(—) group. Intestinal length and villus height were similar for all treatments. Furthermore, cecal microbiota was not improved by PCEE and PCEHE supplementation. These findings suggest that diet supplementation with pine cone extracts improves the feed conversion ratio and affects the digestive organ weight of semi-broilers. (