Effect of Probiotic inclusion in the diet of broiler chickens on performance, feed efficiency and carcass quality

An experiment was conducted with three hundred and twenty broiler chickens to evaluate the influence of supplementation of probiotic on growth, microbiological status and carcass quality of chickens. The probiotic contained similar proportions of six strains of variable organisms namely Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei, Bifidobacterium bifidum, Aspergillus oryzae; Streptococcus faecium and Torulops-is sps and was fed at 100mg/kg diet. The body weight and feed conversion of probiotic fed groups were superior (p < 0.05) compared to the control group in the 4(th), 5(th) and 6(th) weeks. The chickens fed the diet with probiotic had lower (p < 0.05) numbers of coliforms and Campylobacter than chickens fed the control diet. All chickens' carcasses on the control diet were positive for Salmonella while only 16 of the 40 carcasses were positive from chickens fed diets containing probiotic. The leg and breast meat of probiotic fed chickens were higher (p < 0.05) in moisture, protein and ash, and lower in fat as compared to the leg and breast meat of control chickens.