Bacterial Community Changes and Immune Response in Broiler Chickens as Affected with Various Feed Additives

Abstract

This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of commercially available probiotic growth promoters (Micro-BACLA) and the performance of the antibiotic growth promoter zinc bacitracin (55g/ton) with the control group (without any additives) on growth performance and meat quality. A total of 120 day-old Ross chicks were allotted into three groups (n=40) with four repetitions per treatment. The current study examines a considerable rise in the probiotic group's (G3) features like total Live Body Weight (LBW), which was 2127.00 g/bird, compared to the control (G1) and antibiotic group (G2) values of 1957.28 and 1998.80 g/bird, respectively. Additionally, the G3 group had a much higher carcass weight (CW), at 1628.28 g/bird as opposed to 1442.66 and 1546.28 g/bird in the G1 and G2 groups. Moreover, compared to the G1 and G2 groups, the G3 group had the best feed intake and feed conversion ratio (FCR). Additionally, meat from the G3 group had a larger effective intramuscular fat (IMF) percentage than meat from the G1 and G2 groups, as well as a middle value for crude protein between the G2 and G1 groups and no significant difference in collagen between the three groups. Also In the current study, the ratio of unsaturated fatty acids (linoleic and oleic acids) to saturated fatty acids (myristic and palmitic acids) was high. Furthermore, G3 meat had a considerably higher lightness (L*) value than G1 and G2 meats. The current study suggests that using (Micro-BACLA) additives instead of antibiotics can improve the meat quality and productive performance of Ross broiler chickens.