Effects of Chinese herbal formulation on the growth performance, meat quality, immune organ index and intestinal microbiota of broilers

The effects of Chinese herbal formulation ( CHF) mainly based on Frucuts mume on growth performance, meat quality, immune organ idex and intestinal microbiota of broilers were evaluated.Total 300 Ross broilers were randomly divided into five groups. Dietary treatments were as follows: control group, 50 mg/kg aureomycin group, CHF low dose treatment ( 5 m L/L) , CHF medium dose treatment ( 10 m L/L) and CHF high dose treatment ( 20 m L/L) respectively, and the feeding period was 42 d.Results showed that compared to the control, the CHF significantly enhanced the daily gain ( p < 0.05) , and the effect of high dose of CHF was the best. The elasticity of breast meat in 10 m L/L and 20 m L/L of CHF was significantly enhanced ( p < 0.05) and the chewiness and brightness were also enhanced significantly in 20 m L/L of CHF treatment ( p <0.05) .The thymus index in high dose treatment and bursal index in medium and high dose treatment were also significantly increased ( p < 0.05) . The lactic acid bacteria in intestinal in high dose group were significantly increased ( p < 0.05) . In conclusion, results suggested that dietary supplementation with CHF had a positive impact on growth of broiler and the best effects were found in 20 m L/L CHF supplement.