Vitamin E supplementation and/or essential oil of brazillian pepper in the diet of broilers on the performance and intestinal morphometry

Abstract

It was evaluated the efficacy of essential oil from the fruits of Brazilian red pepper (Schinus terebinthifolius Raddi) with or without vitamin E supplementation on the intestinal morphometry and performance of broilers. A total of 400 day-old male chicks, Cobb, distributed in a randomized design in groups of five (5) treatments and five repetitions, with 16 birds each: diet without antibiotic and anticoccidial agent (negative control); diet with antibiotic and anticoccidial (positive control); diet with 0.4% of Brazilian red pepper oil; diet with 200mg of vitamin E/kg; diet with 0.4% of Brazilian red pepper oil plus 200mg of vitamin E/kg. In the period of 1-19 days old it was verified that addition of 0.4% of Brazilian red pepper oil with or without supplementation of 200mg of vitamin E/kg resulted in improved feed conversion when compared to other treatments (P<0,05). At 14 days old, the broilers chicks fed with 0.4% of Brazilian red pepper oil shown the highest villous height and crypt dept compared with the group untreated with antibiotic (P <0.05). At 21 days of age, the broilers fed with 0.4% of Brazilian red pepper oil in the diet had ratio of villus:crypt increased when compared with the negative control group  that resulted in improvements in feed conversion (P<0.05).