Free of Salmonella infection, a total of 300 broiler chicks (Ross 308) were randomly allotted to six dietary treatments (10 replicates) as follows: Negative control (only the basal diet); positive control (infected only); T1, infection + antibiotic (avilamycin); T2, infection + Bacillus subtilis and T3, Salmonella infection + Bacillus licheniformis. The results revealed that production performance was severely affected in the infected group. Also the supplementation of Bacillus subtilis (T2) significantly (P < 0.01) improved feed intake, body weight and performance efficiency factor as compared to the positive control. In addition, feed conversion ratio was significantly (P < 0.01) improved in T2 and T3 compared to the positive control. The results of intestinal health showed that significantly (P < 0.01) higher villus height and total surface area were found in T2 compared to positive control. The results of blood cholesterol, glucose, globulin and total protein concentration were significantly (P < 0.05) higher in T3 compared to the infected birds (positive control). It was concluded that Bacillus subtilis produced superior results in comparison with Bacillus licheniformis in term of growth and intestinal features in broiler by mitigating the deleterious effects of Salmonella infection.
Keywords: Blood chemistry; Broiler; Intestinal histology; Performance; Salmonella.
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