Effects of test mixture and commercial probiotic on broilers growth performance

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of test mixture or probiotic addition to drinking water on the growth performance of broiler chickens. A total of 240 one-day-old Cobb 500 chickens were distributed into three groups with eight replicates in each (10 chickens in each replicate). The control group of chickens (C) were without treatment. The chickens in experimental group E1 were treated with the commercial probiotic Probios (R) and the chickens in experimental group E2 were treated with the test mixture (Lactobacillus acidophilus culture, inactivated baker's yeast, C vitamin, lactose and glucose) prepared using the authors' own recipe. Treatments of chickens were conducted during the first three days of life and for three days using the chickens' vaccination drinking water. The experiment lasted for 42 days. Feed and water were offered ad libitum during the experiment. Body weight, daily feed intake, body weight gain, feed conversion ratio (FCR), carcass weight, carcass yield and European production index (EPI) were studied in this experiment. The addition of the experimental probiotic significantly increased (P<0.05) body weight gain at 21, 35 and 42 days of age, however, the probiotic Probios (R) improved body weight gain over the same period without any significant difference compared to the control group. FCR was significantly improved at 21 and 35 days of age in both E1 and E2 groups, but at the end of fattening the FCR was not affected. Feed consumption was not influenced by the treatments. The results obtained indicate that carcass weight significantly increased (P<0.05) in the groups of chickens treated by the test mixture or probiotic. It was concluded that addition of test mixture or probiotic improved body weight gain, feed conversion ratio, carcass weight and EPI.