Probiotic level effects on growth performance, carcass traits, blood parameters, cecal microbiota, and immune response of broilers

Abstract

Probiotic effects on growth performance, carcass traits, blood parameters, cecal microbiota, and immune response of broilers were studied. Two hundred one-day-old male chickens were allocated to one of fi ve treatments (four replicates of 10 birds per treatment): control, and the same control diet supplemented with 0.005%, 0.01%, 0.015% and 0.02% probiotics. Probiotics in feed at 0.01% or higher levels of supplementation improved body weight gain (+12%) and feed conversion rate (-5%) compared with the control. There were no effects on carcass traits, but the relative weights of drumsticks and wings showed increasing and decreasing linear responses, respectively, to probiotic supplementation level. Blood plasma glucose and albumin contents linearly increased (from 167.1 to 200.5 mg dl -1 , and from 1.70 to 3.25 g dl -1 ) with increasing probiotic supplementation. Triglycerides and cholesterol contents were lower in probiotic supplemented treatments (average contents 71.3 and 125.3 mg dl -1 vs. 92.6 and 149.9 mg dl -1 in the control). Probiotics decreased cecal Escherichia coli counts, but had no effects on immunity related organs or immune response. The linear trends, either positive or negative, observed in many of the parameters studied, suggest that more studies are needed to establish the optimal concentration of probiotics in broiler feed.

The effects of dietary supplementation with different levels of Microzist as newly developed probiotics on growth performance, carcass characteristics, and immunological organs of broiler chicks

“…The findings of the present study were in complete agreement with the reports of Pourakbari et al (2016) and Falaki et al (2011) who observed improved feed intake in broilers by dietary inclusion of probiotics. However, the outcomes of the present study were not found in concurrence with the reports of Jung et al (2008) who found that the addition of probiotics did not show any significant influence on the feed intake of broiler chickens.…”

“…The weight of carcass, eviscerated carcass, breast, drumsticks, and wings was markedly improved in the broilers fed diets supplemented with Microzist and Primalac from 1 st to 42 nd days of age. The findings similar to our study had already been reported by Mehr et al (2007) and Pourakbari et al (2016) who observed an improvement in the carcass weights, breast, drumstick, and wings percentage due to the supplementation of probiotics compared to the control treatment. In contradictory, Anjum et al (2005) and Awad et al (2009) did not report variations in carcass percentage between a control and a probiotic supplemented treatment.…”

“…Several studies had reported significant reduction in the feed conversion ratio of broilers fed diets supplemented with probiotics (Awad et al 2009;Pourakbari et al 2016;Sarangi et al 2016). Our current study is against the findings of previous reports and exhibited that Microzist as well as Primalac supplemented broilers diets had no significant impact on feed conversion ratio in a comparison with control diet during a total period of 1 st -42 nd days of age.…”

“…The supplementation of Microzist at higher concentration showed slight elevation in the abdominal fat content with respect to control. It had previously been observed that probiotic supplemented diets reduce the abdominal fat weight in broilers compared with the control (Anjum et al 2005;Mehr et al 2007;Pourakbari et al 2016). The reduced fat content in the abdominal region of broilers might be due to the reason that reduced abdominal fat could be related to a decrease in the activity of acetyl-CoA carboxylase, the rate limiting enzyme in fatty acid synthesis, after the supplementation into basal diet (Santoso et al 1995).…”

Probiotics on performance, intestinal morphology and carcass characteristics of broiler chickens raised with lower or higher environmental challenge

“…Other studies using different doses of compound probiotics reported variation in the responses of performance and carcass parameters, suggesting that the optimal concentration of probiotics in broiler feed varies with the microorganisms used in the composition of the product (Pourakbari et al 2016).…”