Blood and Gut Micriobiota Profiles of Broiler Chickens Fed on Diet Supplemented with Graded Levels of Neem ( Azadirachta indica) Oil

The present study was assigned to evaluate the Hematological and gut micriobiota profiles of broiler chickens fed on diet supplemented with graded levels of neem oil. A total of 400 day-old chicks of Cobb 500 strain were randomly assigned to 5 treatments groups of 80 birds each with 5 replicates. The experimental rations consisted of a control diet without supplement (R0-), a positive control diet containing 1g of antibiotic/kg (R0+) and three other diets supplemented respectively with 15, 20 and 25 g of neem oil / kg of feed. Feeding broiler with neem oil had no significant (p<0.05) effect on heamoglobin (Hb), Packed cell volume (PCV), Red blood cell (RBC), total leucocytes, white blood cells (WBC), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and lymphocytes counts. With 25 g of oil / kg no trace of salmonella has found in the digestive tract. While, shigellae count was significantly lower with 20 g of neem / kg feed compared to the negative control diet. It was concluded that up to 20 g of neem could be included in a kg of broiler chickens diet without deleterious effect on their blood constituents and with the benefit of reducing possible risks of infection from pathogenic bacteria