Broiler’s performance and carcass characteristics improvement by prebiotic supplementation

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to assess the influence of the supplementation of prebiotics on broiler’s diets on their growth performance and carcass characteristics. A total of 192 male chicks Arbor Acres were randomly distributed into four dietary treatments with six replicates each and were housed in cages (8 birds/ cage). Dietary mixtures in the experiments were as follows: the control group (T0) received the basal diet, and the experimental groups (T1, T2, and T3) received a basal diet supplemented with 1; 1.5 and 2 g/kg of prebiotic, respectively. Growth performances are measured (BW, FI, and FCR) throughout the trial period. The meat quality was also studied. It was observed that prebiotic supplementation enhanced the body growth rate. On the final day of the experiment, the body weight was significantly increased (P<0.01) in the treated groups in comparison with that of the control group. The highest achieved bodyweight of chicken was in treatment T3 (2278.73±188 g) which was followed by treatment T1 (2215.73±179 g) with statistically significant differences (p<0.05). In carcass, the highest yield was recorded in dietary treatment T2 (76.21 %) which was statistically significant (p<0.05) higher compared to the control group (74.25 %). Also, the supplementation of prebiotic to broiler’s diet decreases significantly the small intestine weight compared with the control (60.9±9.29 vs 65.7±10.17 g).  It was concluded that the supplementation of the increasing dose of prebiotic in a broiler diet can improve growth performance.