The Study of the Effect of Adding Different Levels of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae to the Fodder and Drinking Water on the Productive Performance and Intestine Bacteria of the Local Quail

Abstract

The current study was conducted in a poultry farm at the College of Agriculture and Forestry, Mosul University. It aims at studying the effect of adding different levels of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to the fodder and drinking water on the production characteristics and the number of intestine bacteria of the local quail. The levels 0, 1, 1.5, 2 and 2.5% of yeast added to the fodder and 0.5 g/liter of drinking water. In the research 432 one-day old quail chicks were used and distributed randomly into six treatments, each of which included 72 chicks (72 chicks/treatment) and six replicates (12 chicks/replicate). Statistical analysis results showed a significant increase in the average living weight, weight increase, average consumption of fodder and the coefficient of the feed conversion ratio for the fourth, fifth and sixth treatments (2, 2.5 yeast in the fodder and 0.5 g. liter of water) compared to the other treatments and the control treatment. There were no significant differences in the dressing percentage and moralities for all the experimental treatments. From the other hand, it was observed that there was a significant decrease of the total number of bacteria in the birds fed with the fourth treatment compared to the other treatments and there was no significant difference when adding the yeast to the drinking water and the treatment involving 1% of yeast on the total number of the bacteria. There was also a significant decrease in the number of E. coli and Salmonella in the treatment that involve all the levels of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in the fodder. Also, a significant increase was observed in Lactobacilli bacteria for the treatments involving 1.5 and 2% of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae compared to those in other treatments.