Effectiveness of probiotic feed ingredient on the growth performance of broiler

Abstract

The use of antibiotics in human or veterinary therapy is followed by the appearance of bacteria resistance to these antibiotics. This is a serious problem because of the direct impact on therapeutic possibilities. This study aimed at evaluating the efficiency of a probiotic feed ingredient (Starter) on the growth performance of broiler (Hubbard) to allow a reduction of the use of antibiotics. The experimental design consists of four treatments with three replications: diets with 0%, 1.5%, 3% and 4.5% of the probiotic feed ingredient. Each replication consists of 18 broilers with an average live body weight of 43.04 ± 6.38 g. After seven (7) weeks of trial, chickens receiving the treatment .T1.5 had the best growth with an average weight of 984.22 ± 249.2 g, but with no significant difference (P> 0.05). In this treatment, their feed intake was the highest (51.38 g/bird/day) while the feed conversion rate turned out to be the lowest (6.67 g feed/g Live body weight). The highest value of carcass yield (76.1%) and sternum proportion (5.54%) were obtained in treatment T3. From the above results, we can state that the probiotic feed ingredient included at 1.5% and 3% improved growth performance of broilers. It could help to significantly improve the production performance of broilers if its probiotics properties are enhanced.Keywords: Broiler, feeding, tchoukoutou, kpètè-kpètè, carcass yield.