Abstract
An experiment was conducted to study the effects of different dietary levels of desiccated ox bile on the performance, fat digestibility, gut morphology and blood variables of broiler chickens fed tallow diet. One hundred and fifty one-day-old male broilers (Ross 308) were equally distributed into three treatments (with five replicates each) in a completely randomised design. Desiccated ox bile was added to the experimental diets during starter (7-21 day) and grower (22-42 day) periods (0.00, 0.25 and 0.50% of diet). During the experiment, the measured parameters were average body weight gain, average feed intake, average feed conversion ratio, gut morphology, serum cholesterol (Chol), triglyceride, high density lipoprotein and low density lipoprotein. During the grower and overall periods, ABWG and AFCR were significantly improved (p<0.05). Dietary supplementation of desiccated ox bile in the diet resulted in significant (p<0.05) linear increase in fat digestibility ranged from 51% (0.00% desiccated ox bile in the diet) to 84% (0.50% desiccated ox bile in the diet). Dietary desiccated ox bile supplementation increased (p<0.05) villus height, crypt depth, villus width and villus apparent surface area in the jejunum and ileum. The results of this study indicated that dietary desiccated ox bile can be used as a natural non-nutrient additive to improve broiler performance and tallow digestibility in broiler chickens at least by stimulation of morphological maturation of gastrointestinal tract.