Biological response of broiler supplemented with varying dose of direct fed microbial

Abstract

Aim: To study biological response of the isolated strain (Direct fed microbial- DFM) of Enterococcus spp. in broilers at different dose rates. Materials and Methods: Various treatments consisted of T0: Control (Culture medium); T1 - isolated direct fed microbial 0 1 namely Enterococcus faecium (2.8 x 108 cfu/kg feed); T2 - Enterococcus faecium (4.8 × 108 cfu/kg feed), T3 - Enterococcus 2 3 faecium (6.8 × 108 cfu/kg feed) and T4 - Enterococcus faecium (8.8 × 108 cfu/kg feed). Growth attributes and feed consumption 4 was recorded at regular intervals. Randomly 6 birds per treatment were chosen for blood collection and for estimation of calcium, phosphorus and cholesterol concentration in blood. Representative sample of birds were slaughtered and caecal contents were collected under sterile conditions to study microbial flora. Result: Dose specific results for growth attributes, FCR, plasma concentration of calcium, phosphorus and cholesterol, and microbiological evaluation of caeca were obtained after supplementation of isolated DFM. Enterococcus spp. supple- mentation at low doses (2.8 × 108 cfu) resulted in significant increase in weight gain and better FCR. Low dosage supplementation of Enterococcus spp. also increased calcium concentration and lowered cholesterol in blood. Birds in treatment T4 supplemented with high dose of Enterococcus spp. performed poorly as compared to control. All treatments had 4 high ratio of gram positive to gram negative bacteria. Conclusion: It was concluded that isolated strain of Enterococcus acted as probiotics only at low dosage (2.8 × 108 cfu). Further it was found that overall biological performance was negatively correlated to higher dose (8.8 × 108 cfu) of supplementations of Enterococcus spp. Micro floral study of caecal content indicated that the strain was able to establish itself in the gut.