• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
• /
• v.32 no.1
• /
• pp.43-48
• /
• 2005

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of mineral extract from granite on the performance, ammonia production from the litter, components of blood, Newcastle Disease (ND) titer and intestinal microflora in broiler chickens. Nine hundred sixty one-day-old broiler chickens (Ross) were assigned to five treatments: C; control, Zeolite; control + zeolite 1$\%$, AM10: control + active mineral water $10\%$ adsorbed zeolite $1\%$, AM20; control + active mineral water $20\%$ adsorbed zeolite $1\%$ and AM30; control + active mineral water $30\%$ adsorbed zeolite $1\%$. Each treatment consisted of four replicates with 48 broiler chicks for feeding trial. In order to test the effect of ND vaccine on the components of blood, ND titer and intestinal microflora, a separate group of 48 broiler chicks were assigned to the same 5 treatment as the feeding trial plus one negative control (No ND vaccine). Weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion and mortality were not significantly affected by dietary treatments but AM30 tended to be higher than other treatments in weight gain and feed intake, especially during later period (4 to 5 weeks of age). Ammonia production from the litter of AM30 treatment was significantly (P<0.01) lower than the control. Components of blood and ND titer in serum of broiler chickens were not significantly affected by treatments but MCHC (mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration) of blood was significantly lower (P<0.05) in Zeolite treatment compared to others. The colony forming unit (CFU) of Clostridium perfringens in the small intestinal content of all zeolite and AM treated groups was significantly (P<0.01) lower than the control while the CFU of Escherichia coli was not significantly affected. The CFU of Lactobacilli in AM30 treatment was significantly (P<0.05) higher than the control. In conclusion, dietary supplement of active mineral water adsorbed to zeolite at $30\%$ level (AM30) tended to improve growth performance of broiler chickens and significantly reduced ammonia production from the litter. It also significantly increased CFU of intestinal Lactobacilli.