Abstract

Due to the hazardous use of antimicrobials in poultry production sector, development of drug resistance have become a worldwide problem. Therefore, using biotic or natural products, such as phytobiotics (phytogenics or botanicals) have received a great attention as antibiotic substitutes. The use of phytobiotics or their constituents have been considered as a relatively new class of natural herbs that gained popularity and acceptability among poultry farmers. The incorporation of several types of phytobiotic additives in poultry feed have proved their ability to enhance the productive performance of broilers as well as layers. Moreover, phytbiotics presented great efficacy in counteracting intestinal pathogenic microorganism while maintaining the population of normal inhabitant beneficial microflora. Immunostimulatory effect on both humoral and cellular immunity as well as antioxidant properties were recorded as characters of phytobiotics. Therefore, this review article aimed to give a spotlight on the uses of different types of phytobiotics as poultry dietary additives to improve the productive parameters, reduce the pathogenic intestinal bacteria, and potentiate the immune response, especially after vaccination processes.