PERFORMANCE OF BROILERS SUPPLEMENTED WITH PROBIOTICS

AIZA D. BORNALES
JESSA MAE T. DUROPAN
EVA MAE L. TOLIAO

INTRODUCTION

Nature and Importance of the study

Enteric diseases are an important burden to the poultry industry because of lost
productivity, increased mortality, and the associated contamination of poultry
products for human consumption (Patterson and Burkholder 2003). As a result, the
banning of subtherapeutic antibiotic usage in several countries, due to consumers’
concerns regarding food safety and antibiotic-resistant bacteria in humans, has
brought about a challenge for the productive efficiency of the poultry industry.
Therefore, several alternatives to growth-promoting antimicrobials have been
investigated in recent years (Huyghebaert et al. 2011). Those strategies have focused
on preventing the proliferation of pathogenic bacteria and modulating beneficial gut
microflora so that the health, immune status and performance are improved (Adil and
Magray 2012).

The improvement of performance parameters requires constant adjustment of the

nutritional requirements of the modern broiler strains, in order to allow the expression
of their full genetic potential. When adequately fed, broilers are efficient, producing
the required carcass yield and quality at the lowest possible cost. The improvement of
performance parameters requires constant adjustment of the nutritional requirements
of the modern broiler strains, in order to allow the expression of their full genetic
potential. When adequately fed, broilers are efficient, producing the required carcass
yield and quality at the lowest possible cost. Efficiency in poultry production is based
on the balance between nutrition, intestinal health, and animal welfare. With
increasing consumer demand for antibiotic suppression of animal feed for growth, the
animal nutrition segment has sought new alternatives to optimize production rates
and, based on this concept, use probiotics—living microorganisms (beneficial bacteria
and yeast) for animal health. The objective of the experiment was to evaluate the
production and welfare of broilers fed different doses of probiotics.

In Greek Probiotic means “for life” (Gibson and Fuller,2000) and can be defined as a
live microbial feed supplements, which beneficially affects the host animal by
improving its intestinal balance (Fuller, 1989). With increasing concern about
antibiotics resistance, the ban on sub-therapeutic antibiotics usage in Europe and the
potential for a ban in the United States, there is an increasing interest in finding
alternatives to antibiotics in poultry production. Probiotics are one of the approaches
that have a potential to reduce chances of infections in poultry and subsequent
contamination of poultry products. Probiotic foods have been consumed for centuries,
either as natural components of foods. A food can be said functional if it contains a
component (which may or may not be a nutrient) that affects one or a limited number
of functions in the body in a targeted way so as to have positive effects on health
(Bellisle et al., 1998) or if it has a physiologic or psychologic effect beyond the
traditional nutritional effect (Clydesdale, 1997). The poultry industry has become an
important economic activity in many countries. In large-scale rearing facilities, where
poultry are exposed to stressful conditions, problems related to diseases and
deterioration of environmental conditions often occur and result in serious economic
losses. Prevention and control of diseases have led during recent decades to a
substantial increase in the use of veterinary medicines. However, the utility of
antimicrobial agents as a preventive measure has been questioned, given extensive
documentation of the evolution of antimicrobial resistance among pathogenic
bacteria. So, the possibility of antibiotics ceasing to be used as growth stimulants for
poultry and the concern about the side-effects of their use as therapeutic agents has
produced a climate in which both consumer and manufacturer are looking for
alternatives. Probiotics are being considered to fill this gap and already some farmers
are using them in preference to antibiotics (S. M. Lutful Kabir. 2009 Aug).

Probiotics are the functional food ingredients. They are used therapeutically to
improve lactose tolerance and to prevent diarrhoea (especially viral diarrhoea in
infants, antibiotic-associated diarrhoea, Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhoea and
traveler's diarrhoea). Clinical studies suggest that probiotics might be useful in
stimulation of the immune system, prevention of allergic diseases, control of GI tract
inflammatory diseases and cancer prevention. Probiotic microbial species act by
changing the composition of the gut microbionta. The use of non-digestible
oligosaccharides (prebiotics) can fortify intestinal microflora and stimulate their
growth. This review encompasses information regarding probiotic strains, prebiotics
and commercially products (functional food), which can be useful in improving our
health (Elzbieta Trafalska , Krystyna Grzybowska 2004).

The intestinal mucosa represents the most active defense barrier against the
continuous challenge of food antigens and pathogenic microorganisms present in the
intestinal lumen. Protection against harmful agents is conferred by factors such as
gastric acid, peristalsis, mucus, intestinal proteolysis, and the intestinal biota.  The
establishment of beneficial bacterial communities and metabolites from these
complex ecosystems has varying consequences for host health. This hypothesis has
led to the introduction of novel therapeutic interventions based on the consumption of
beneficial bacterial cultures. Mechanisms by which probiotic bacteria affect the
microecology of the gastrointestinal tract are not well understood, but at least three
mechanisms of action have been proposed: production/presence of antibacterial
substances (e.g., bacteriocins or colicins), modulation of immune responses and
specific competition for adhesion receptors to intestinal epithelium (G. M. Nava (a1), L.
R. Bielke (a2), T. R. Callaway (a3) and M. P Castañeda (a1) 2005).

The sub therapeutic use of antibiotic growth promoters has been an economically
viable method of raising animal performance for many years. However, repeated use
of antibiotics in poultry diets resulted in severe problems like resistance of pathogen
to antibiotics, accumulation of antibiotics residue in their products and environment,
resulted into severe restriction or total ban on the use of antibiotics in animal and
poultry industry in many countries in the world. As a result, the poultry industry must
focus on alternative to antibiotics for maintaining health and performance under
commercial conditions. Apart from this, the efficiency of poultry to convert the feed
into meat plays also a key role in economics of broiler industry. Therefore, it is highly
essential to improve the feed efficiency of poultry to produce meat economically. So,
for better utilization of feed and to improve the feed the recent biotechnological
interventions. A probiotics microbial intestinal balance’ (Fuller, 1989). The proposed
modes of action of probiotics in poultry are 1) maintaining exclusion and antagonism
(Fuller, 1989), 2) improving feed intake and digestion (Nahanshon et al., 1993), and
3) altering bacterial metabolism (Jin et al., 1997). Probiotics represent potential
replacements for antibiotics in the animal food industry because of their reported
ability to reduce enteric disease in poultry and potential food borne pathogen
contamination of poultry or poultry products (Reid and Friendship, 2002; Patterson
and Burkholder, 2003). Numerous studies showed that addition of probiotics have
positive effects on growth rate, feed 2012; Manal, 2012). However, the efficacy of
probiotics gene manipulation, combination of several strains and the combination of
probiotics and synergistically acting components. The use of multi-strain probiotics
seems to promoting bacteria with competitive antagonism of pathogenic bacteria in
the gastrointestinal tract. Hence, keeping in view multi-strain probiotics was used to
evaluate the effect of probiotics supplementation on growth performance, feed
consumption, feed conversion ratio, carcass characteristics, mortality and economics
of feeding in broiler chicks.
REFERENCES

International Journal of Poultry Science 5 (6): 593-597, 2006 ISSN 1682-8356 ©

Asian Network for Scientific Information, 2006

1Kuban State Agrarian University, Kalinina Street, 13, Krasnodar, 350044, Russia
2All-Russian Research and Technological Poultry Institute, Ptitsegradskaya Street,
10, Sergiev Posad, 141311,
Russia
3Kurgan State Agricultural Academy named after T.S. Maltsev, Lesnikovo, Kurgan
Oblast,
641300, Russia

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