Growth Performance of Broilers with Probiotic Supplementation

Abstract

The prophylactic use of antibiotic to prevent diseases as well as promote growth in food animals draws a number of concerns on human health. Supplementation of probiotics from natural sources offers alternatives to synthetic antibiotics to enhance growth and prevent gastro-intestinal diseases of broilers. The study determined the effects of probiotics from different locally available sources on the growth performance of broilers. A total of 90 Starbro strain straight run day-old chicks were used in six treatment diets: positive control using commercial antibiotic (TCA), probiotics from milk (TMi), indigenous microorganisms (TIM), plant juice (TPJ), fish (TF) and oriental herbs (TH). Each treatment was replicated three times with five animals per replication arranged in Completely Randomized Design. Recommended protocols were observed in the feeding trial. Results disclosed that feed intake, water intake, weight gain, feed conversion efficiency and supplemented water conversion efficiency of the broilers supplemented with probiotics have no significant difference from the broilers supplemented with antibiotic. The greatest gross margin was realized in TF followed by TPJ and TIM. The result indicates that broiler production can be profitably carried out with the use of probiotics from different sources as an alternative or replacement of synthetic commercial antibiotic.