VOL. 11, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2016 ISSN 1990-6145 ARPN Journal of Agricultural and Biological Science © 2006-2016 Asian Research Publishing Network (ARPN). All rights reserved. www.arpnjournals.com 448 THE EFFECT OF AQUEOUS HERBAL INFUSION IN DRINKING WATER ON BROILER PERFORMANCE AND INTESTINAL MICROFLORA STATUS Majed Rafeeq 1 , Nadeem Rashid 1 , Muhammad Masood Tariq 1 , Rasool Bakhsh Tareen 2 , Ferhat Bukhari, Irfan Shahzad Sheikh and Kamran Taj 1 1 Center for Advanced Studies in Vaccinology and Biotechnology (CASVAB), University of Balochistan, Quetta, Pakistan 2 Department of Botany, University of Balochistan, Quetta, Pakistan E-Mail: majid_casvab@yahoo.com ABSTRACT An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of herbal infused water on the performance of broiler and intestinal microbial population characteristics. Two hundred and eighty (n=280) one day old broiler chicks were randomly divided into seven groups of forty (40) chicks. Each group was further divided into four replicates. Two culinary seeds and a medicinal herb was selected as water supplement additives and 5% w/v infusion was prepared and added @ 20 and 40 ml/L of the drinking water, respectively. The seventh group was treated as control and offered plain water. Isonitrogenous and isocaloric feed was offered to all the treatment groups and water was provided ad libitum. The broiler production indices, relative organ weights and microbial counts were observed. It was observed that the performance indices significantly (P<0.05) improved by the infused supplements. No significant (P>0.05) difference in relative weight of the intestine was observed. Supplementation of infused water altered the intestinal microbial counts (P<0.5). Keywords: broiler performance, herbal infusion, bacterial enumeration. INTRODUCTION The use of plants as medicine have been the basis for medical treatments through much of human history, and till date herbs and their products are considered as natural remedies for curing diseases (Alfatemi et al., 2014). In recent times, the use of herbal medicine in different forms have been gaining acceptance. Since 2006, post antibiotic ban over the use of antibiotics as feed additives (Windisch et al., 2008) by the European Union (EU) resulted in increased disease outbreaks in commercial poultry and this urged the scientific community to find and develop an alternative to antibiotic feed additives without compromising the production parameters. Consequently, extracts from culinary and medicinal herbs are emerging as a potential safer source of treatment and their positive effects have been acknowledged (Denli et al., 2004; Wati et al., 2015). Cumin (Cuminum cyminum) is an annual plant and the seeds are a rich source of proteins (19.8%), oils (8.07%) and carbohydrate (22%), used for both culinary and therapeutic purposes (Khosravifar et al., 2014). The extract from cumin has antioxidant, antimicrobial, digestive enzyme stimulant, gut environment modifier and effects on the flow rate of digesta (De et al., 2003). The main constituents of essential oil are β-pinene (16.2876%), Limonene (0.2307%), α-terpinene (5.6551%), p-cymene (15.5464%), 1, 8-cineol (2.2421%,) cumin aldehyde (25.8749%) and cuminyl alcohol (30.023%) (Chaudhry et al., 2012). Achillea wilhelmcii C. Koch (Vernacular name: Zawal) belonging to family Asteraceae is a perennial medicinal herb. It has a wide range of bioactive activities like antacid, antispasmodic (Ali et al., 2014) antihyperlipidemia, antihypertensive and antioxidant effects (Niazmand et al., 2011; Asgary, 2000). It is a rich source of sesquiterpenes, lactones, flavinoids and monoterpoids (Alftemi et al., 2014). Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) belongs to family Apiaceae. It is commonly used as medicinal plant and aromatic plant as flavoring agent. Different in vitro and in vivo experiments have convincingly confirmed the ability of F. vulgare to exhibit antifungal, antibacterial, antioxidant, antithrombotic and hepatoprotective, cytoprotective diuretic and digestive carminative activities (El-Soud et al., 2011; Pradhan et al., 2008) . Different types of studies have been carried out using their essential oils and alcoholic extracts suggesting variable results. However, their use as infusion in broiler chicken is scanty. Therefore, this study was carried out to evaluate the effect of these herbs infused in drinking water on the performance of broiler chicken. MATERIALS AND METHODS Experimental layout Two hundred and eighty ( n=280) day old Hubbard broiler mixed sex chicks were randomly divided in seven treatment groups (40 chicks each) with four replicates of ten chicks in each treatment, respectively. Each replicate was taken as an experimental unit. The treatment were (C20) cumin seed infusion at 20 ml/L, (C40) cumin seed infusion at 40 ml/L, (A20) Zawal infusion at 20 ml/L ,(A40) Zawal infusion at 40 ml/L, (F20) Fennel seed infusion at 20 ml/L, (F40) Fennel seed infusion at 40 ml/L, and (C) Control; offered drinking water without herbal infusion. Feeding and management For the purpose of this experiment two phase feeding system (Starter and finisher) was chosen. An