ESSENTIAL OILS AND NATURAL ZEOLITE INFLUENCE ON PRODUCTION AND HEALTH PERFORMANCE OF BROILERS, AND MICROBIOLOGICAL CONTAMINATION OF CHICKEN MEAT

Essential oils and their components, as a group of phytogenic feed additive, have great potential uses in broiler fattening. Due to their antimicrobial and antioxidant properties and effects on improved food digestibility their positive impact on animals the health status can be expected, and therefore better final fattening results. In this research we studied the impact of XTRACTTM (a combination of essential oils components carvacrol, cinnamaldehid and capsicum Oleoresin), Arom Korm ® (essential oil combination of Foeniculum vulgare and Citrus limon), zeolite and a combination of zeolite with XTRACTTM or Aroma Korma ® on the fattening performance of chickens, their immunostimulating effect, the impact on the antioxidant status of the blood and muscle tissue, the impact on intestine micropopulation of chickens, effect on microbial contamination of meat, the impact on processing performances of broiler chicken and meat properties, and impact on the sensory quality of the chicken meat. The experiment was conducted on Ross 308 broilers, divided into 6 groups (control and treatment groups depending on the different supplements of essential oils, zeolites, or combinations thereof). The fattening lasted 42 days and total of 288 both sex chicks were included (48 per in each group). Influence of the addition of essential oils and natural zeolite had a different impact on the observed individual values. Separately added XTRACTTM and Aroma Korm ® had a good effect on the observed properties of fattening, the technological properties of meat, chicken health status, antioxidant parameters of blood and meat, microbiological contamination and organoleptic properties. Zeolite, as a standalone supplement, had the lowest impact on the observed properties, but in combination with Aroma Korm ® or XTRACTTM, Zeolite improved their activity.