Effect of beneficial microorganisms on growth performance, mortality and intestinal microflora in broilers

Present study was conducted to investigate effect of beneficial microorganisms on growth performance, immunity, mortality and intestinal microflora in broilers. Three hundred day-old Ross broilers (initial BW, 43 ± 0.5 g) were randomly allocated to five treatments with four replications (15 birds in each). Dietary treatments were: Negative control (NC) = Corn-soybean meal based basal diet; Positive control (PC) = NC Chlortetracycline-HCl; NC BM1 (Bacillus subtilis Lactobacillus acidophilus Saccharomyces cerevisiae Streptococcus thermophillus); NC BM2 (Bacillus subtilis Lactobacillus acidophilus Saccharomyces cerevisiae Enterococcus faecium); NC BM3 (Bacillus subtilis Lactobacillus acidophilus Saccharomyces cerevisiae Clostridium butyricum). Dietary supplementation with BM significantly increased overall average daily gain and average daily feed intake; and decreased feed conversion ratio relative to NC (P < 0.05). In addition, Immunity was improved and mortality was reduced in BM supplemented group compared to NC (P<0.05). Furthermore, total bacterial count was significantly reduced in BM supplemented group compared to NC (P < 0.05). Among dietary treatments, BM3 supplemented group showed overall best performance. In conclusion, different combinations of BM have potential for use as effective substitutes for antibiotics, and BM3 could be best choice as multi-microbe probiotic for broiler nutrition.