Effects of prebiotic supplementation on growth performance, slaughter performance, growth of internal organs and small intestine and serum biochemical parameters of broilers

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of prebiotic supplementation on growth performance, slaughter performance, growth of internal organs and small intestine and serum biochemical indices of broilers. A total of 360 1-day-old Ross 308 broilers were randomly divided into 4 groups with 3 replicates and 30 broilers per replicate (15 male and 15 female). The treatments were fed with basal diet supplemented with 0, 0.07, 0.10 and 0.13% prebiotic. The broilers of all replicates were weighted at the weekends. The results showed that prebiotic increased the daily gain and final weight and decreased the feed conversion ratio (P < 0.05) at the 42 days of age. When the addition of the prebiotic was 0.13%, the eviscerated carcass ratio of broilers was the lowest, the live weight and the contents of albumin (ALB) and total protein (TP) were lower than other group broilers (P < 0.05). Prebiotic improved the weight and length of duodenum, jejunum and ileum (P < 0.05). It had no significant effect on the weight of cecum and rectum (P > 0.05). According to the above analysis, the feasible supplementation of prebiotic in broiler dietary was 0.10%.

Keywords:

• prebiotic
• performance
• internal organs
• small intestine
• serum biochemical parameters

Funding

This research was financially supported by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions and the Support Project of Science and Technology of Jiangsu Province [NO. BE2011408], P. R. China.

Additional information

Funding

Funding: This research was financially supported by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions and the Support Project of Science and Technology of Jiangsu Province [NO. BE2011408], P. R. China.