Introduction: The poultry industry has been expanding at a very high speed during the last 20 years, and it was predicted that the amount of chicken meat production will reach to 455 million tons by 2050. There are many challenges in this industry, the general goal of which is to optimize production efficiency, and one of them is choosing the suitable broiler strain for higher production in amount and quality. Among the important strains of chickens available in the Iranian market, we can mention the Arian strain. On the other hand, due to the increasing concern about antimicrobial and antibiotic resistance, the use of commercial probiotics to increase the health and safety of birds has become common. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of commercial probiotics available in the market on growth performance indicators, blood, intestinal morphology, and bacterial population of the digestive tract of Arian strains of two mother chicken farms, Dizbad, Babolsar.
Material and Methods: In this experiment, 288 broiler chickens of the Ross 308 commercial strain, 288 broiler chickens from the Dizbad mother chicken unit, and 288 broiler chickens from Babolsar were used in 42 days. Experimental treatments included: 1. Without additives, 2. Lactofid (from 1 to 21 days, 200 grams per ton of feed, and from 21 days to the end of the period, 100 grams per ton of feed), 3. Primalac (in the initial period, 900 grams per ton of feed, in the period growth of 450 grams per ton of feed, and in the final period 225 grams per ton of feed), 4. biocell (600 grams per 1000 liters of drinking water in the first three days of the breeding period). At the end of the trial, blood was taken from the two birds of each replicate to measure the blood indices. To evaluate the microbial population and intestinal morphology, one bird from each replicate was randomly killed.
Result and Discussion: The findings showed that the Ross strain had the lowest feed intake in the periods of 15-24, 25-35, and 1-42 days, and the highest weight gain was observed at 15-24 days. The use of ration containing lactofeed probiotics had the highest average weight in 14, 35, and 42 days (P<0.05). In the period of 1-14 days, the use of Lactofid and Biocell probiotics improved the daily weight gain compared to Primalac (P<0.05). In general, the use of probiotics increased feed intake compared to the control group. The interaction between the effect of strain and probiotics on feed conversion ratio was significant (P<0.05) in periods of 15-24, 36-42, and 1-42 days. In the period of 15-24 days, the lowest feed conversion ratio was observed in the Ras strain fed with the diet containing the probiotic Primalak. In the period of 1-42 days, the lowest feed conversion ratio was observed in the Ross strain without additives (P<0.05). The activity of the alanine aminotransferase enzyme was higher in the Ross strain compared to the Arin Bableser strain. In general, the use of Biocell probiotics increased the concentration of blood albumin, and the lowest cholesterol and LDL concentrations were observed in birds fed with the diet containing the probiotic Primalac. The highest villus height was observed in the Ross strain, which was significantly different from the Arian Dizbad strain. The effect of probiotics on villus height, crypt width, and villi surface absorption area was significant (P<0.05). The highest population of Lactobacillus bacteria was observed in Arian Disbad strain birds fed with a Lactofeed probiotic diet (P<0.05).
Conclusions: In general, this research showed that Ras strain has a better conversion rate with less feed intake and higher weight gain. Also, this strain has more relative breast weight and less fat. Probiotics had positive effects on performance, blood indices, intestinal morphology, and intestinal microbial population, and in total, each of them had a positive impact on growth performance
Conclusions: In general, this research showed that Ras strain has a better conversion rate with less feed intake and higher weight gain. Also, this strain has more relative breast weight and less fat. Probiotics had positive effects on performance, blood indices, intestinal morphology, and intestinal microbial population, and in total, each of them had a positive impact on growth performance |
