Effects of probiotic, prebiotic, and synbiotic with and without feed restriction on performance, hematological indices and carcass characteristics of broiler chickens

Abstract

ObjectiveThis study was conducted to investigate the effects of probiotic, prebiotic and synbiotic with and without feed restriction on broilers performance, blood parameters, carcass characteristics, and feed cost of production from 1 to 56 days of age.MethodsTwo hundred and forty unsexed one day-old chicks of Arbor Acres breed were used. Two trials, I and II, were conducted, with 120 birds in both. Each trial was divided into 4 equal groups. The birds in trial I were fed ad libitum throughout the experiment, while the chicks in trial II were fed ad libitum during the first week of age, then subjected to 5 hours/d of feed restriction from the beginning of the second week up to the end of the experiment. In both trials, the birds in group 1 were fed on a control diet while the other groups were given the same control diet supplemented either with a probiotic in group 2, prebiotic in group 3, or synbiotic in group 4.ResultsIt was found that chicks fed diets supplemented with probiotic, prebiotic and synbiotic (with and without feed restriction) exhibited higher body weight and feed efficiency than chicks fed the control diets. The feed additives in both trials did not affect hemoglobin, serum total protein, albumin, globulin, glucose, and total cholesterol, except the packed cell volume which was increased in the additive treatments with restriction at the end of the experiment. Moreover, the dietary treatments did not influence the carcass yield. However, the relative weights of liver, gizzard and proventriculus, small intestine and bursa of fabricius were found to be increased. The additives decreased the visible fat in the carcass, with more decreasing effect in the additive groups with restriction. The lowest feed cost per kg of weight gain was observed in the birds fed diets supplemented with synbiotic, probiotic and prebiotic. Feed restriction improved the feed conversion ratio, economic return, but decreased the feed intake, serum total cholesterol and visible fat in comparison with non-restricted groups.ConclusionThe biological feed additives could be routinely added to broiler diets, especially when a feed restriction program is followed. Finally, it can be recommended to restrict feed, and add probiotic or synbiotic to increase weight, improve feed conversion rate and reduce feed cost of production.

Effect of Antibiotic, Phytobiotic and Probiotic Supplementation on Growth, Blood Indices and Intestine Health in Broiler Chicks Challenged with Clostridium perfringens

“…Diet supplementation was found to reduce the mortality rate of the broiler chicks, confirming the positive effects that supplementation with antibiotics, probiotics and phytobiotics have on mortality ( Table 3). Our findings were similar to those reported by Abdel-Hafeez et al [67]. Similarly, Riad et al [68] found that the addition of probiotics in feed decreased the mortality rate in broiler chicks.…”

Assessment of Refined Functional Carbohydrates as Substitutes of Antibiotic Growth Promoters in Broilers: Effects on Growth Performance, Immune Responses, Intestinal Micro-Flora and Carcass Characteristics

“…Results of this study are in accordance with the published literature as Santin et al (2001) reported that supplementation of yeast cell walls resulted higher feed intake in broilers than on control diets. Similarly, Abdel-Hafeez et al (2017) reported that feed consumption in the prebiotic group was higher than in control group in broilers. However, Baurhoo et al (2009), Eseceli et al (2010 and Wang et al (2018) reported that feed intake was not influenced by dietary supplementations of AGPs and prebiotics in broilers.…”

“…The results of the present findings regarding weight gain and FCR are in agreement with the findings of Shahir et al (2014) who reported improved weight gain and FCR in broiler birds fed diet containing yeast based prebiotics. Similarly, Abdel-Hafeez et al (2017) found that chicks fed diets supplemented with prebiotic (with and without feed restriction) exhibited higher body weight and feed efficiency than chicks fed the control diets. Improvement in performance of broiler birds in terms of weight gain, FCR and EPI by dietary supplementation of prebiotics, might be due to improvement of health of the intestinal lumen, leading to better absorption of dietary nutrients in gut (Santin et al, 2001).…”

“…Onifade et al (1999) reported better carcass yield (72.3% vs. 68.9%) in broiler fed diet containing dried yeast than control group. In contrast, Yalçin et al (2014) and Abdel-Hafeez et al (2017) reported no effect of prebiotics supplementation on carcass yield in broilers. Other carcass parameters like breast meat yield, and abdominal fat weights were not affected (P>0.05) by dietary treatments.…”

The effect of synbiotic preparations on the intestinal microbiota and her metabolism in broiler chickens

“…The performance of chickens is often used for the evaluation of the influence of synbiotics (probiotics/prebiotics) on broiler chickens health. In many experimental models, it has been shown that these nutritional supplements usually improve the performance of broiler chickens, but the results depend on type of synbiotics used [37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47] . Usually parameters of the performance are measured at the end of the production cycle, but for improved analysis we decided to check it at each time point.…”