Effects of fermented barley or wheat as feed supplement on growth performance, gut health and meat quality of broilers

Abstract

Summary This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of fermented barley or wheat as a dietary supplement by measuring the growth performance of broiler chickens. A total of 500 1-day old broiler chickens were randomly assigned to 5 dietary treatments in floor pens containing 25 chicks each; each treatment had 4 replicate floor pens. Over a 35-day period, birds were given (1) a basal diet, formulated to be adequate in energy and nutrients or (2) one of 4 experimental diets, prepared by adding 1 of the 4 following treatments: 10Â g/kg Lactobacillus fermented barley, 10Â g/kg Bacillus fermented barley, 10Â g/kg Lactobacillus fermented wheat and 10Â g/kg Bacillus fermented wheat to the basal diet. BW gain was greater ( P<0.05) for fermented barley or wheat treatment groups than for the basal treatment. Feed intake and feed conversion ratio were not significantly different between treatments during the overall period (0 to 35 d). Significant ( P<0.01) differences were found in lymphocyte and H/L ratio among broilers fed on diets supplemented with the fermented barley or wheat groups. LFW treatment significantly ( P<0.05) increased the Lactobacillus spp. population. Escherichia coli and total bacteria were not influenced by the treatments. The DPPH radical activity and FRAP of fermented wheat were higher than the basal treatment, whereas no significant differences were observed for fermented barley as compared to the other treatment groups. These results suggest that dietary fermented barley or wheat may be used as a functional ingredient to improve growth performance, H:L ratio, DPPH and FRAP in breast meat and intestinal health of broilers.