NUTRIENT DIGESTIBILITY AND HAEMATOLOGICAL INDICES OF BROILER CHICKENS FED DIFFERENT INCLUSION LEVELS OF A SYNBIOTIC FEED ADDITIVE AS A REPLACEMENT FOR ANTIBIOTIC GROWTH PROMOTERS

Abstract

A feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the response of broiler chickens fed diets supplemented with a synbiotic feed additive, Poultrystar®, as replacement for antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs). A total of 225, day-old broiler chicks (Cobb 500) were allotted randomly to five dietary treatments each replicated thrice, with 15 chicks per replicate. Poultrystar® was included at 0, 40, 60 and 80g/100 kg diet for T1-T4, respectively while T5 had Oxytetracycline. Data was collected on digestibility and blood haematoligical indices. All data collected were subjected to analysis of variance and significant differences among treatment means were compared using the Dunnett test of significance. Values for PCV, Hb and WBC did not show differences (P>0.05) when the Poultrystar®-fed groups were compared to the control, but monocytes and eosinophils were significantly (P<0.05) higher in the 60 g/100kg fed group. The group of birds fed 60 g Poultrystar® had significantly (P<0.05) higher digestibility values in all the parameters compared to both oxytetracycline and control groups. Poultrystar significantly improved feed conversion in the starter and finisher phases and increased weight gain in the latter, similarly, it lowers feed cost and improves feed conversion ratio ultimately leading to more profit.