INTRODUCTION
Micro-organisms
colonize the gastro-intestinal tract during early post hatch period from a
synergistic relationship with their 
poultry host.  The components of
the feed and the viscosity of the gut contents 
play an  important role in the
development of the microbial  population
especially in the small  intestine.
(Fleming, 2009). Gastrointestinal micro-organisms have a highly significant impact on uptake and utilization of energy (Choct et al.,1996) and other nutrients, and on response of poultry to anti-nutritional factors such as non –strarch polysaccharide, pre and probiotic feed additive and feed enzyme (Bedford and apajalahti, 2001).
Micro-organism can also directly interact with the lining of the gastro intestinal tract (Van Leeuwen et al., 2004) which may alter the physiology of the tract and immunological status of the birds (Klasing et.al, 1999) . Bacteria overgrowth (known as dysbacteriosis ) results in bad bacteria significantly outnumbering the good bacteria in the gut, resulting in the bad bacteria exerting their undesirable effects on the gut lining and the digestion process which may lead to diarrhea and damage to the intestine- ultimately leading to diseased birds and poor performance. Thus, to maintain good health and welfare, growers focus on the integrity of the intestinal system (Fleming, 2009).
(Fleming, 2009). Gastrointestinal micro-organisms have a highly significant impact on uptake and utilization of energy (Choct et al.,1996) and other nutrients, and on response of poultry to anti-nutritional factors such as non –strarch polysaccharide, pre and probiotic feed additive and feed enzyme (Bedford and apajalahti, 2001).
Micro-organism can also directly interact with the lining of the gastro intestinal tract (Van Leeuwen et al., 2004) which may alter the physiology of the tract and immunological status of the birds (Klasing et.al, 1999) . Bacteria overgrowth (known as dysbacteriosis ) results in bad bacteria significantly outnumbering the good bacteria in the gut, resulting in the bad bacteria exerting their undesirable effects on the gut lining and the digestion process which may lead to diarrhea and damage to the intestine- ultimately leading to diseased birds and poor performance. Thus, to maintain good health and welfare, growers focus on the integrity of the intestinal system (Fleming, 2009).
In
livestock farming, infectious agents reduce the yield of farmed food animals.
To  control this, the administration of
sub-therapeutic antibiotics  and antimicrobial
agent has been shown to be effective (AL-Dobaiba and Mousa,  2009). Supplementing  animal 
feed with  antimicrobial
agents  to enhance  growth has been common practice for more
than  50 years and   is estimated to constitute   more than half the total antimicrobial world
wide  (Wegner Et  Al, 
1999)  According to  the National 
Office of  Animal Health  (2001), 
the  objective of using  antibiotic based growth promoters (AGPs) is
to help growing animals  digest their
food more  efficiently, get maximum  benefits from it and lalow them to develop
into strong and healthy  animals.  Antibiotic like   virginamycin, salinomycin, neomycin,
doxycycline, avilamycin  etc,  are  
few of the commonly used AGPs. However, 
the use of these  antibiotics in
feed have  shown serveal side  effects like resistance towards the drug
resideue in the meat and thereby  the
user  getting  resistance to the drug. Hence, several
countries have banned the use of 
antibiotics based growth promoters in the feed animal sector and appearance
of resistant   strain in human being.
This  decision has  therefore stimulated to the search for
alternatives  array  of 
substance with  beneficial
health   related biological   properties (Agarwal,  1996).
Garlic
is  one of the most traditionally
used  plants  as a spice and herb . garlic has been
used  for a variety of reason which most
of them  has been  approved 
scientifically:  antimicrobial,
hypolipidemic, anti hypertension, anti diabetes etc. there  are lots of active  components in garlic like :  ajone, s-allyl cycteine, di
allyl(di/three)  sulfide and the most
active one  is allicine which possibly
reduce cholesterol in serum and it has 
been used for  cardiovascular
diseases (Rahmatnejau and  Roshanfekr,
2009). 
Ginger
(Zingiber Officinale)  is a 
perennial plant, and may act as a 
pro-nutrient because of the vast active ingredient it has  been reported to contain  (herbs hand healing  2011). 
A  protein digesting enzyme
(zingibein) found in gineger   is  believed to improve digestion as  well 
as kill parasites and their eggs. it 
was  also reported  to enhance antibacterial and anti
inflammatory actions and it is  thought
to assist other antibacterial  such as
antibiotics, by up  to  50%. 
the  nutrients found in ginger
include carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, minerals and  vitamins (herbs and Hand Healing 2011. Ginger
and garlic have been suggested to improve growth performance of broilers  collectively or individually  (Onibi et al, 
2009)  and  improve 
gut microbial population by 
reducing the pH  of the gut  (Dieumou et al.,  2009).
OBJECTIVES
The
objectives  of this  study 
are to:
1.     
  Evaluate the effect of ginger and garlic
on  the 
growth performance of  broiler  chickens 
2.     
Determine
the effect of ginger  and  garlic on 
the gut microbial population of 
broiler  chickens. 
  Justification
of  study 
Feeds
potentially  introduce enter
pathogens  into  the 
gut and steps need to be taken 
to  prevent    their 
introduction and  proliferation.
synthetic  antibiotics have  been used 
to control  them and  improve growth and productivity. However, it  has been 
discovered  that they are
deposited  in  the animal l as tissue  residues, 
and  which  may 
cause resistance of pathogenic microbes. Thus  natural alternatives are being sought that
will not  have negative effects on the
animal and humans alike. It  is
expected   that  ginger 
and  garlic can help modulate the
broilers gut  and control enteropathogens
that interferes    with  effective utilization  of  feed
in broilers. If  this is achieved  then 
growth performance can be 
improved by using  ginger and
garlic as feed additives  for  broilers. However
the efficiency of utilization of ginger and garlic will only  be 
determined by  evaluating the
performance of  broiler and the gut  microbial population of broiler chickens  fed with 
ginger  and garlic. 
MATERIALS AND
METHOD 
Experimental
site 
The  experiment will be carried  out at the poultry  unit of the 
teaching  and  research farm of the department of  Animal 
Science, Ebonyi State University 
Abakaliki.  
SOURCE AND  PROCESSING OF 
GINGER AND GARLIC 
The  ginger and garlic to be used  will be purchased fresh  from the market. There  rinds 
and husks will be peeled off using knife, the peeled  ginger 
and garlic will be washed and sun 
dried.   When  it is 
dried, it  will be later ground to
fine  powder. Samples  of the test ingredients  and feed 
will be collected and analyzed  to
 determine their  proximate composition.
EXPERIMENTAL
ANIMAL  (BIRDS)  
80  birds 
(day old )  will be  obtain from a reputable commercial farm.  The 
80  birds  will be randomly allotted into a  treatment 
groups (consisting of  20 birds
each)  in 
a completely  randomized design,
each  treatment  will l be 
replicated  4   times 
with  5  birds per replicate.  The 
bird will  be raised in  deep 
litter and brooded  for  21 
days  (3weeks). 
EXPERIMENTAL  DIETS:
The
starter and finisher feed  used in the
experiment will be  purchased from a
commercial feed seller. The  experimental
diets  will be such that  T1 will be the control  no garlic or ginger  in the 
diet T2 will be ginger in the feed at  14g/kg 
of diet,  and  T4 will be ginger and garlic mixed
in the feed at  7g  each/kg of 
diet. 
 Data collection
Data
will be collected on the  following  parameters”
FEED INTAKE 
Weighed  quantity of 
feed will be served to the  birds
per replicate between  7  and 
8am  leftover feed will be weighed
the next day. Then feed intake  will be
obtained by subtracting  the leftover  feed from the quantity served as
follows:  
Feed
intake= quantity of feed served-quantity of 
feed  left.
BODY WEIGHT GAIN
Birds
in each replicate/treatment will be 
weekly using a weighing scale 
before they are  served. At  the end of the experiment, the  total body 
weight gain will be determined 
by  subtracting the initial
body   weight  from the final body weight.  The 
initial body   weight will be
gotten  by  weighing the birds on arrival  to the poultry house.  The daily body weight  gain will be 
determined  by dividing  the total 
body weight  gain  by  the
number of days  of the experiment.
FEED CONVERSION
RATIO 
Feed
conversion ratio will be calculated  by
dividing the average daily feed intake by 
the  average daily weight gain. 
MICROBIAL
COUNTS 
After
the  8th  week, 
at  57 day fecal samples will be
collected from the ileo-caecum of the 
eviscerated birds, and  analyzed
for microbial  intensity  fresh samples from the small intestine  will be collected immediately after slaughter
and transported to the laboratory (under the protection of ice blocks)  for 
microbiology analysis.
Statistics  analysis 
The
data collected  will be subjected to a
one way analysis  of variance in a  completely 
randomized design (crd) . where 
significant differences  between
means are observed, such  means will be
separated using  fishers least
significant difference (F-LSD) (Obi 2002). The 
Xij=
µ+Ti + Eij
Where:
Xij
      =          Any
Observation 
µ
         =          Population Mean 
Ti
       =          
Treatment  Effect 
Eij       =          Experimental Error 
I
          =          Number
of  Treatment
J          =          Number
of Replicate 
REFERENCES
Agarwal,
K.C (1996).  Therapeutic Action  of Garlic Constituents. Med. Res. Rev,
16.111-114  
Alder, A.J, Holub,  (1997) 
Am J Clin Nutr,  65;445-450 
Al-dobaib,
s.n and  mousa, h.m  (1009) . effect of  antibiotics in animals. Journal food  agric. 
Environment, vol  7
Bagar,
I (1998)  consumption of antimicrobial
agents and occurrence of antimicrobial  
resistance 
in bacteria from
food  animals, food and human in Denmark,
dansk,  Copenhagen, zoonocenter, Denmark 
Brugalli,  1 (2003) Alimentaca Alternative:  Utilizacaode Fitoterapicos Ou  Nutaceticoscomo  
Moduladores Da
Imunidade E desempho animal. Anais  do
simposio Sobre manejo e  Nutricao  de aves e suinos;  Compains sa o Paulo –brasil. Campinas: CBNA; PP
167-181
Bedford,  M.R.  and
apajalahti, j  (2011)  enzyme in farm animal nutrition, eds Mr. Bedford  g.g. 
partridge cab publishing  walling ford 
Dieumou,  f.e, 
teguia, a.,  kuiate, j.r  tamokou, N b, fonge, n.b  and dongmo, m.c  (2009. 
Effects 
of ginger (ZINGIBER OFFINALE) AND GARLIC
(allium sativum)  essential oils on  
growth
performance and gut microbial population of broiler  chickens  
livestock   research  for rural development   21(8)  2009. 
Dorman,
H.J.D  and Deans S.G  (2002) . antimicrobial agents from
plants:  antibacterial  activity 
of plant volatile oils, journal of
applied microbiology  88:308-316 
Fleming,
b., (1009 ). Broiler gut health. Farmers weekly 
http://ad.doubleclic,. 
Net/n6381/jump/farmers weekly  interactive/academy. Monday I June 2009
Hebs
hand healing ltd 1011.  Traditional
western herbal product. Ginger.  Extracts
from a  
nutshell ginger by jill rosenry davis
wwwherbs hand healing co.uk. retrieved July 11 
2011 
Klasing,
k.c.johnstone, b kand benson, b.n (1999). 
Recent development in poultry  
nutrition 
Obi, I.u (100)  statically methods of  detecting difference between treatment means
and  
research methodology issues in
laboratory and field experiments pp 
39-40 
Onibi,
g.e.  adebisi, o.e. faeisin, n.a  and adetunji a.v  (1009) . 
response of broiler  
supplementation. African journal  of agricultural research vol,  4 (5) 
pp  511 -517  
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1760 
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j  veeramanomai s and  indrakosas 
n (2004) . influence of dietary speices of their    active principles on digestive enzymes
of  small intensinal mucosa in rate. J
med  assoc  thai, 87:1156-1161 
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h.c  aarestrup f.m  garner –smidt, P and bagger.f  (1999) . 
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Wiley-interscience
publication; cap  6,p.145-153 
EFFECT OF GINGER
AND GARLIC ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND GUT MICROBIAL INTENSITY OF BROILER
CHICKENS
A
PROJECT PROPOSAL
PRESENTED TO
DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL
SCIENCE
FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE
AND NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
EBONYI STATE
UNIVERSITY
ABAKALIKI
COURSE CODE:   ANS 599
COURSE
TITLE:  RESEARCH PROJECT