HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Willis, W. L. Articles by Reid, L. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Willis, W. L. Articles by Reid, L.

Investigating the Effects of Dietary Probiotic Feeding Regimens on Broiler Chicken Production and Campylobacter jejuni Presence¹

Department of Animal Sciences, North Carolina Agricultural and State University, Greensboro 27411

² Corresponding author: willisw{at}ncat.edu

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of restricted feeding of a commercially available probiotic diet on production/processing performance, Campylobacter jejuni prevalence, and organ weights in broiler chickens. Five hundred forty 1-d-old broiler chicks were randomly assigned to a control or a direct-fed microbial (PrimaLac, DFM) diet and subjected to ad libitum full-fed (A), restricted 8-h (R), or skip-a-day (S) feeding regimens. Each of the 6 treatments was replicated 3 times with 15 male and 15 female chicks per pen for 49 d. Significant (P < 0.05) differences between BW in the control and DFM groups with regard to feed type were found at d 7 (A), female d 21 (R) male and females, and d 49 (A and S) male and females. Body weights of males in the control group were significantly higher than the DFM (A) and differed by regimens (A>R>S) at d 49, whereas weights of females did not differ in regimens A and S. Body weight in the control females of regimen R was significantly higher than those in regimens A and S. Carcass yield was significantly higher for males in the control regimen A, 78.1 vs. 74.6% for the DFM regimen A; however, females did not differ significantly in this regimen, but did so in regimen S with 72.6 vs. 69.0%. The gizzard weights were significantly higher for broilers exposed to S and R regimens when compared with the A regimen. The prevalence of C. jejuni in the DFM-treated broilers regimen R was lower (33 vs. 60% positive) for the control group at 21 d. The weekly BW throughout the study reflected many variations, but broiler chickens receiving the control feed on regimen A performed better than those receiving the DFM feed. From the present results, it was concluded that supplementation of DFM reduced the presence of C. jejuni but had no significant effect on the growth performance of broilers; however, there were some significant trends regarding sex, feed, and feeding methods on the performance results.

Key Words: probiotic • broiler chicken • feeding regimen • Campylobacter jejuni • sex

¹ Research was supported by Evans-Allen funding through the USDA/Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, 1400 Independence Ave., S.W. Washington, DC 20250, United States Department of Agriculture Cooperative State Research Service.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				K. W. Lee, S. H. Lee, H. S. Lillehoj, G. X. Li, S. I. Jang, U. S. Babu, M. S. Park, D. K. Kim, E. P. Lillehoj, A. P. Neumann, et al. Effects of direct-fed microbials on growth performance, gut morphometry, and immune characteristics in broiler chickens Poult. Sci., February 1, 2010; 89(2): 203 - 216. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]