Efficiency of a food supplement containing Saccharomyces cerevisiae culture in the diet of broiler chickens

Abstract

Currently, high productivity parameters in poultry farming are achievable only by maximum fulfillment of the poultry’s biological needs, because only healthy and highly productive birds can be the basis of the sphere’s profitability. All this is closely associated with the usage of feed additives of natural origin and effective methods of poultry farming, which provide high productivity and natural resistance of a bird’s body. In the experiment, we examined the effects of a probiotic feed additive on the productivity and slaughter parameters of the broiler chickens. Intake of the feed supplement by the experimental-group broiler chickens increased their live weight by 5% at the age of 28 days, 12% at the age of 35 days, and by 14% at the age of 42 days, compared with the control group. Using the tested probiotic feed supplement in the diet increased the mean daily (by 15.9%) and absolute increments (by 14.4% compared with the control group). Intake of the probiotic feed supplement by broiler chickens of the experimental group increased their pre-slaughter live weight by 14.2%, weight of non-processed carcasses by 15.5%, semi-processed carcass by 15.7% and processed carcass by 15.3%, compared with the parameters of the control group. In broilers of the experimental group, there were increases in the general weight of muscles (10.3%), namely the breast muscles (11.8%), muscles of thighs and lower legs (9.8%), and weight of the gizzard (by 6.5%), compared with the control group. Intake of the probiotic supplement by the experimental-group broiler chickens resulted in increases in width of the proventriculus (28.5%), length of the gizzard (16.3%) and width of the gizzard (29.7%), compared with the control group of animals. The probiotic feed supplement increased the length of the duodenum (by 7.6%) and the jejunum (by 4.5%) in the experimental-group broiler chickens, against the control. Therefore, feed supplements based on cheap culture Saccharomyces cerevisiae are promising, because they are able to enhance the effectiveness of poultry farming at relatively small costs.