Growth Performance and Gut Morphological Responses of Broiler Chickens to Fermented Diets

Aims: Growth performance and gut morphological response of broiler chickens fed moist fermented diets with the inclusion of probiotics or/and organic acids were evaluated in a 56 day feeding trial.

Place and Duration of Study: Poultry unit of the Department of Agricultural Education, Federal College of Education, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria between February 2018 and April 2018

Methodology: Three hundred one-day old unsexed Abor Acre broilers were used for this study. They were randomly allotted to 5 dietary treatments with 6 replicates of 10 birds each. The experimental treatments were: Diet 1: Dry Unfermented Feed (DUF) - Probiotics (Pr) – Organic acids (Or), Diet 2: Moist Fermented Feed (MFF) – Pr – Or, Diet 3: MFF + Pr, Diet 4: MFF + Or, Diet 5: MFF + Pr + Or. The experiment was carried out using a completely randomized design.

Results: The feed conversion ratio of broiler starters fed diet 5 (1.96) was significantly (P<.0001) better relative to those of birds fed other diets (2.27, 2.21, 2.14 and 2.13 respectively), while birds in treatment 1 (2.27) had significantly (P<.0001) poor feed conversion ratio. There were no significant (P>.05) differences in the feed conversion ratio of broiler finishers fed MFF with or without feed additives (2.68, 2.64, 2.55 and 2.55). However, the value of feed conversion ratio of birds fed DUF (3.04) was significantly (P=.05) the highest. The duodenal villus height to crypt depth ratio of broiler starters fed MFF+ Pr + Or (7.11) was significantly (P=.05) higher than those of birds fed other diets (2.70, 3.35, 3.98, 4.73 respectively).

Conclusion: Although, feed fermentation enhanced gut morphological parameters which correlates improved growth performance of broiler chickens. The inclusion of probiotics (1g/kg) and organic acids (1g/kg) in the fermentation process further improved the growth indicators of broiler chickens used in this study.