The Effect of Bee Pollen on Lameness Treatment in Broiler Chickens

Background and aim: Bee pollen is a combination of plant pollen and honeybee secretions and nectar. It is considered a gold mine of nutrition and valuable apitherapeutic product greatly appreciated by the natural medicine because of its potential medical and nutritional applications. Beneficial properties of bee pollen and the validity for their therapeutic use for lameness treatment in broiler chickens have been discussed in this study. Materials and Methods: Six-hundred two-week-old Cobb ۵۰۰ lame broilers from ۱۰ broiler farms were selected and allocated in five groups by using gait scoring system (GS۱, GS۲, GS۳, GS۴, GS۵). Lame broilers were fed corn-soybean meal basal diet supplemented with bee pollen at the rate of ۰% (control), ۰.۵, ۱ and ۱.۵% for a period of ۵ weeks as a natural additive for lameness treatment. The lameness status was assessed by gait scoring system through visually observing and giving some gait scores for each bird. Results: Significant differences (p<۰.۰۵) in lameness treatment and mortality rate were found between broiler chicks fed the basal diet and those having bee pollen in their diets during the experiment period. In lame broilers in all experiment groups, various degrees of complete and partial lameness improvement were observed and significant differences (p<۰.۰۵) were found between three experiment groups. Lame broilers received ۱.۵% of bee pollen had the most significant difference (p<۰.۰۵) in terms of complete and partial lameness improvement compared to other experiment groups. Conclusion: Natural substances such as bee pollen can be a safe feed additive to replace synthetic antibiotics and other chemical drugs for treatment of various pathological conditions such as lameness in broiler chickens.

کلیدواژه ها:

Bee Pollen ، Lameness ، Broilers ، گرده زنبور عسل ، لنگش ، ماکیان گوشتی