GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND GUT MICROFLORA COUNTS OF ROSS 308 BROILER CHICKENS FED PROBIOTIC BASED DIET AT THE STARTER PHASE

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of probiotics on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and gut microflora of broiler chicken at the starter phase. A total of thirty (30) broiler chickens were randomly allotted to five treatments groups, with each group consisting of three replicates with each replicate containing two chickens. The treatments were as follows: T1 (control no probiotics), T2 (5.50g of oxytetracycline), T3 (6.25g of probiotics), T4 (12.50g of probiotics) and T5 (18.50g of probiotics). Data were collected on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and gut microflora counts. The results indicated a significant (P<0.05) difference on total and daily feed intakes while the final weight, total weight gain, daily weight gain and feed conversion ratio were not significantly (P>0.05) different among dietary treatments. For the nutrient digestibility, dietary treatment had significant effect (P < 0.05) on crude fibre, ash, and ether extract while there were no significant (P>0.05) differences on crude protein, nitrogen free Extract, dry matter, and total digestible nutrient. Findings on the gut microflora showed that there was no significance (P>0.05) difference in Lactobacillus sp. (LS), Pediococcus acidilactici (PA), Streptococcus acidophilus (SA), Escherichia coli (EC), Streptococcus pneumoniae (SP), Bacillus cereus (BC) across all treatments. It was concluded that the addition of probiotics to broiler diets could improve feed intake and nutrient digestibility. Hence poultry farmer should include it in their broiler chicken diets at the starter phase at 6.25g to enhance fast growth rate in broiler chickens