Feed additives including antibiotics have been widely used in poultry industry for several decades. The ban of antibiotics use as feed additives has led to investigations for alternatives to antibiotics. EM products originated in Japan after being discovered by Dr. Teruo Higa, a professor of horticulture. EM products have been on the market since 1983 and is now produced in over 156 countries. EM is a mixture of groups of anaerobic and aerobic beneficial microorganisms (lactic acid bacteria, photosynthetic bacteria, yeasts).
Studies have already shown that the use of EM could improve growth parameters (feed intake, weight gain, feed conversion ratio) and/or gut histology and microbiology in broilers (Esatu ve ark., 2011, 2012; Simeamelak ve ark., 2012; Wondmeneh ve ark., 2011). However, there is still lack of information regarding the efficacy and beneficial effects of EM in broiler chicks. Sokol et al. (2009) showed also that supplemental EM increased cholesterol, albümin and LDH activity but there was no effect on the body weight gain. Safalaoh and Smith (2001) suggest that the effectiveness of supplemental EM decreased serum cholesterol content of broilers, although Safalaoh (2006) were unable to confirm this observation statistically.
The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of effective microorganism (EM) supplied by drinking water and/or spraying onto poultry litter on performance, intestine histology and serum ALT, AST, glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides concentration of broiler chicks
