Performance and physiological responses of E. coli-challenged broiler chickens to dietary Moringa oleifera

This study was conducted toexamine the effects ofMoringa oleifera (MO) seed powder onthe performance and gut health ofbroilers challenged with E.coli. Atotal of720 one-day-old Ross 308 broiler chicks were randomly allocated to72pens across two separate rooms, following a2 6factorial design. The factors per room included (i)challenge: nooryes, and (ii)feed additive: control (none), antibiotic [oxytetracycline (OTC) at0.5g/kg], MO 0.1%, MO 0.2%, MO 0.4%, and MO 0.8%. At9days old, birds inboth challenged and non-challenged rooms were inoculated with 1.5ml ofE.coli-O157:H7 inoculant (3.8 108CFU) and 1.5ml ofsaline, respectively. Performance data showed that, throughout the study, unchallenged birds had better weight gain (WG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) than challenged birds. Onday35, broilers given OTC and all MO levels showed improved WG (P