Effect of Dietary Lactobacillus, Medicinal Plants Extract, Herb Extract on the Laying Performance, Cecal Microflora, Relative Organs Weight, Leucocyte Profiles in Laying Hens against Salmonella gallinarum

The study was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation of Lactobacillus, medicinal plants extract, and essential oil on laying performance, cecal microflora, relative organic weight, leucocyte profiles in laying hens against Salmonella gallinarum. A total of 100 Hy-Line Brown laying hens of 65 weeks of age were assigned into 5 dietary treatments supplemented with no antibiotic (negative control), antibiotic (positive control), Lactobacillus 0.1% (LB), medicinal plants extract 100 ppm (MPE), herb extract 100 ppm (EO). After 7 days of treatment, the 20 hens in each treatment group were divided into challenge group (n=10) and non-challenge group (n=10) for oral administration of Salmonella gallinarums, and were maintained in the same dietary treatments for two additional weeks. Laying hens were selected 20 by each treatment, splitting up into oral Salmonella group and nontreated group. The feeding trial lasted for one weeks and Salmonella gallinarum was orally administered for two weeks. Egg production, egg weight, egg mass, and feed conversion ratio were calculated and cecal microflora, relative organ, and blood were collected at the end of experiment. Compared with the control, laying hens fed Lactobacillus, medical plant extract, and essential oil were not observed to change of laying performance. Salmonella count increased significantly when Salmonella gallinarum was orally administered (P<0.05) but coliform bacteria and Lactobacillus counts were not affected. The relative organs weight was not different in hens with oral administration of Salmonella gallinarum and also in hens fed Lactobacillus, medical plant extract, and essential oil. H/L ratio was not significantly different, but total leucocyte level was somewhat increased in the treatment with oral administration of Salmonella gallinarum and more leucocyte increased in laying hens fed Lactobacillus, medical plant extract, and essential oil than control. (