Impact of the Combination of Probiotics and Digital Poultry System on Behavior, Welfare Parameters, and Growth Performance in Broiler Chicken

Abstract

Recently, applied technology in the form of the combination of a probiotics and a digital poultry system, with the convergence of Information and Communications Technology and farm animals, has enabled a new strategy to overcome the livestock production crisis caused by climate change, while maintaining sustainable poultry farming in terms of care, feeding, and environmental management systems for poultry. The aim of this study was to investigate the biological mechanisms of animal behavioral welfare and production improvement using the combination of a probiotics and a digital poultry system in broiler chickens. A total of 400 one-day-old male broilers (ROSS 308) were randomly divided into four treatment groups, with five replicates each (20 birds/replicate pen) in a completely randomized design: control group with a conventional poultry system without probiotics (CON), conventional poultry system with 500 ppm of probiotics (CON500), digital poultry control system without probiotics (DPCS), and digital poultry system with 500 ppm of probiotics (DPS500). All experimental animals were reared for 35 days under the same standard environmental conditions. The experimental results indicated that the animal behavioral welfare, which includes drinking, eating, locomotion, grooming, and resting, in addition to foot pads, knee burns, plumage, and gait scores, as well as the growth performance of the broiler chickens, were improved by maintaining immune function and cecal microbiota balance via interaction between the combination of a probiotics and a digital poultry system. In conclusion, it was found that the combined system showed improved broiler growth performance and animal behavioral welfare. Thus, further studies of molecular biological mechanisms by the use of such a combined system to improve the nutritional composition and quality of chicken meats are recommended.