Supplementation of pink pepper oil and vitamin E in replacement to antibiotic growth promoters in the broilers diet on response of ileal microbiota

The aim was to evaluate the supplementation of pink pepper oil (PPO) and vitamin E on the intestinal microbiota of broiler chickens. A total of 400 day-old male chicks distributed in a randomized design in groups of five treatments and five replicates: diet without antimicrobial; diet with antimicrobial; diet with 0.4% PPO; diet with 200mg vitamin E kg-1; diet with 0.4% PPO and 200mg vitamin E kg-1 The supply of PPO in the diet reduced the relative weight of the intestines (P<0.05). It was verified that the negative control group had the lowest bacteria count of Lactobacillus in contrast to the other groups (P<0.05). It was also observed that the use of PPO with or without vitamin E supplementation significantly reduced the bacterial count of Staphylococcus spp and E. coli when compared with the untreated group with the growth promoter (P<0.05). For Staphylococcus spp. coagulase-positive, it was found that the minimum inhibitory concentration was 14,72-117,75mg mL-1 for isolates from broilers treated with PPO + vitamin E, while for treated with or without growth promoter was 117.75 and 29,44-235,5mg mL-1. It was concluded that the inclusion of PPO resulted in modulation of intestinal microbiota.