Effect of dietary supplementation of Lactobacilli and Streptococci cultures on the performance of broiler chickens

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of dietary supplementation of lactic acid cultures (5×1010 cfu of Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus per gram) on growth parameters of Lohmann Indian River broiler chicks. Fifty-two unsexed day-old chicks were randomly divided into two groups. Each group was subdivided into two replicates and housed in 108×108 cm pens and reared with a deep litter system. The birds were fed with commercial broiler starter ration for the first 21 days and from 22 to 40 days, they were randomly allocated to one of the two dietary treatments: broiler finisher (control) or broiler finisher supplemented with 1% lactic acid cultures (experimental diet). The study showed that treatment effects on feed intake, live-weight, dressing percentage and weight of the internal organs of broilers were not significant (P>0.05). Total feed intake was 3 786.3 g on control diet and 3 785.3 g on experimental diet. The values for the respective growth parameters on control diet were: live-weight, 2 562.5 g; live-weight gain, 85.1 g/d and relative growth rate, 83.1 g kg-1 d-1. The values for the respective growth parameters on experimental diet were: live-weight, 2 371.4 g; live-weight gain, 77.4 g/d and relative growth rate, 82.0 g kg-1 d-1. Dressed weight (1 828.6 g) was higher (P<0.05) on control diet. There was no difference in FCR. The findings could be due to combined effects of insufficient bacterial count, and genotype and growth stage of broilers.