The study aimed to evaluate the effects of a bacteriophage cocktail (BC) against Salmonella enteritidis (SE) in native broiler chickens. Totally, 320 native chicks were divided into two experiments using a completely randomized design consisting of 4 treatments and 4 replicates of 10 chicks per experiment. In both experiments, BC was used at a dose of 109 PFU/mL, and SE was used at 108,2 CFU/mL. In the protective experiment, 1-day-old chicks were arranged in CD) control diet; BC+S) CD + 1 mL BC (gavaged at days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) + 1 mL SE (gavaged at day 3); S) CD + 1 mL SE (gavaged at day 3); S+A) CD + 1 mL SE (gavaged at day 3) + gentamicin at 1 g/4 L water (gavaged at days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). In therapeutic experiment, 2-days-old chicks were arranged in CD; BC+S) CD + 1 mL BC (gavaged at days 2, 3, 6, 8, 10, 13, 15) + 1 mL SE (gavaged at day 2); S) CD + 1 mL SE (gavaged at day 2); S+A) CD + 1 mL SE (gavaged at day 2) + gentamicin at 1g/4L water (gavaged at days 2, 3, 6, 8, 10, 13, 15). The results showed that the mortality rate and the number of bacteria in the internal organs of chicks were dramatically decreased in BC+S group compared to S group in both treatments. Moreover, supplementing BC tended to improve the weight gain of chicks.

Keywords | Bacteriophage, Mortality, Native chicken, Protection, Treatment efficiency