Intestinal Morphology Broiler Chickens Supplemented with Propolis

The small intestine is animportant organ responsible for digestion and absorption of nutrients from food1.Studies have demonstrated that certain bee products, such as propolispositively affect the small intestine villi making them longer and thicker,which has beneficial effect on the absorption of nutrients from food andconsequently performance parameters of fattening chickens2,3. Theaim of this study was to determine the influence of dietary supplementation ofpropolis on the intestinal morphology in broiler chickens. This experimentalstudy was conducted on 120 Ross 308 broiler chickens of equally distributedsex, which were randomly divided into three groups: control group (C) and twoexperimental groups (P1 and P2). Throughout the whole study (for 42 days) thecontrol group of chickens was fed feed mixture while feed mixture that was fedto the experimental groups of chickens contained propolis in amount of 0,5 g/kg(P1 group) and 1,0 g/kg of feed mixture (P2 group). The duodenal villi ofchickens from the experimental groups were significantly higher in comparisonto the duodenal villi of chickens from the control group (p=0.034) while therewere no statistically significant differences in width of villi’s base and peakbetween the groups (p=0.114 and p=0.145, respectively). The duodenal villicrypts of chickens from the experimental groups were significantly wider(p=0.001) and deeper (p<0.001) in comparison to those parameters in chickensfrom the control group on the 42nd day of fattening. Addition ofpropolis to feed mixtures has significant protective effect on the gut tissueof chickens.