Comparison of broiler performance, blood biochemistry, hematology and immune response when feed diets were supplemented with ginger essential oils or mannan-oligosaccharide

Background: Nutritional strategies targeting improvement of poultry performance and disease prevention are currently being developed and in this respect the dietary intake of spiced essential oils and pre-biotics in raising broilers is receiving attention. OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to compare the effects of diet containing ginger essential oils (GEO) and mannan-oligosaccharide (MOS) on growth performance,  biochemical and hematological parameters, lymphoid organ weights and antibody response of broilers. METHODS: A total of 375 day old male broiler chicks were randomly assigned to five treatments (five replicates per treatment). Dietary treatments included basal diet as control, GEO-supplemented diets with inclusion levels of 50 (GEO1), 100 (GEO2) or 200 (GEO3) mg/kg, and MOS supplemented diet with an inclusion level of 2 g/kg. RESULTS: The birds fed on MOS and GEO3 diets exhibited better feed conversion ratio and higher body weight gain from 1 to 42 day of age compared with control birds (p