Author: Lin J, Zhang FY, Xu Y, Ting ZX, Po YD. 2005.
effects of different levels of Aloe vera gel on microflora population, humoral and cellular immune response, and relative weight of lymphoid organs compared to the effects brought about by antibiotic, Aloe vera gel (added to basal diet at 1.5%, 2% and 2.5%), increase in Aloe vera gel in the feed resulted in significant reduction in the number of E. coli colonies and significant increase in the number of Lactobacillus colonies compared to the control and antibiotic groups, humoral immunity, sheep red blood cells antibody titer reached its highest level in the 2.5% Aloe vera gel group, education in number of E. coli colonies and increase in number of Lactobacillus colonies as a result of increased Aloe vera gel in the feed, poultry industry, birds are maintained in confinement systems and large flocks in order to achieve higher economic returns, birds are exposed to stress and inducing factors such as high population, vaccination and temperature changes. Intestinal microflora is influenced, and sometimes imbalanced, by these factors, leading to deteriorated health conditions for chickens, imbalance in intestinal microflora may result in weakened immune system and failure of growth performance in chickens, microorganism resistance, replacements for growth-stimulating antibiotics such as probiotics, prebiotics, organic acids and herbal medicines, active compounds of herbs can be found in the form of glycosides, alkaloids, volatile oils and organic acids, and more importantly in polysaccharides, Polysaccharides act as immunomodulators and even perform antimicrobial activities, polysaccharides can be used as feed supplements or as booster in vaccination. Antibacterial, antiviral and antiparasitic, Aloe vera contains different types of polysaccharides most significantly acemannan
