Growth performance and carcass characteristics of Tam Hoang chickens supplemented with probiotic Lactobacillus sp.

Nguyen Tuyet Giang^1,2, Do Vo Anh Khoa^3,4, Nguyen Huu Thanh^1,2, Nguyen Thi Hanh Chi^1,2, Pham Duc Tho^1,2 and Lu Huu Thanh Quang Vinh^1,2

¹ An Giang University, An Giang, Vietnam
ntgiang@agu.edu.vn
² Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
³ Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry, Vietnam
⁴ Animal Husbandry Association of Vietnam

Abstract

The current study was conducted to investigate the effect of a probiotic propagated from Lactobacillus sp. on the growth performance and carcass characteristics of Tam Hoang chickens. Therefore an experiment with four treatments including the control (basal diet), PRO-1 (basal diet with 0.5% probiotic L. acidophilus K1), PRO-2 (basal diet with 0.5% probiotic L. plantarum L6) and PRO-3 (basal diet with 0.5% probiotic L. acidophilus K1 and L. plantarum L6). There were 3 replications and a total of 108 Tam Hoang chickens (21 days old).

Mortality was low (0.00-1.48%) and there were no differences among the treatments for live weight gain, feed conversion and yield of carcass, and cut-up parts. Birds consuming probiotic had lower weights of abdominal fat and liver and higher weight of bursa of Fabricius. Probiotics from single or multiple strains of L. acidophilus and L. plantarum may improve the carcass characteristics of broiler chickens, regardless of the absence of effect on growth performance.

Key word: abdominal fat, bursa of Fabricius, Tam Hoang chicken

Introduction

Chicken is the most ubiquitous farmed species worldwide, with over 90 billion tonnes of chicken meat produced annually. The rapid turnover, efficient feed conversion ratio as well as excellent nutritional composition have made the chicken industry a dynamic and integral part of national economies (FAO 2019). Since the discovery and application in 1940s of diversity of antibiotics, it has been commonly practiced to give them in animal feed at sub-therapeutic dose levels as prophylactics and curatives to ensure rapid growth and to help prevent diseases. In the meantime, evidence has highlighted a link between excessive use of antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance in animals and humans (Agyare et al 2018; Mehdi et al 2018). Due to the persistence and spread of antibiotic resistance, in conjunction with dangerous prospect of ineffective therapies against bacterial diseases, since 2006, the European Union banned the use of antibiotics as growth promoter in animal production. In turn, this increased the use of other additives as antibiotic substitutes (Stanton 2013; Cheng et al 2014; Mund et al 2017). The aim of these non-therapeutic alternatives is to maintain animal production at low mortality rate and maximize growth performance and feed efficiency while preserving the environment and human health. Among these additives, the most popular are probiotics, prebiotics, enzymes, organic acids, immune-stimulants, bacteriocins, phytogenic feed additives, phytocides, nanoparticles and essential oils (Mehdi et al 2018).

Probiotics have been defined as single or mixed cultures of live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts beneficially affect the hosts by improving their microbial intestinal balance (Fuller 1989; FAO/WHO 2001). Lactobacillus sp. is one of the commercially significant bacterial probiotics which is most commonly suggested for dietary use. When supplemented to chicken they can improve growth performance, feed conversion efficiency, nutrient utilization, meat quality, egg production, egg quality and have cholesterol- lowering potential in poultry products (Gallazzi et al 2008; Awad et al 2009; Salarmoini and Fooladi 2011; Getachew et al 2016; Cesare et al 2017; Vantsawa et al 2017). In addition, Lactobacillus sp. could protect broilers against pathogens by positively affecting gut health and regulating systemic immune responses in the gastrointestinal tract (Brisbin et al 2011; Kupryś-Caruk et al 2018; Li et al 2018; Humam et al 2019).

The current study aimed to investigate the effects of administering probiotics on the growth performance and carcass characteristics of Tam Hoang chickens, one of the favored backyard chicken breeds in Vietnam. Results of this study could provide an efficacy and safety assessment of the use of potentially probiotic Lactobacillus strains in the feed for broiler chickens.

Materials and methods

The experiment was conducted from February to May 2020, at the experimental farm of An Giang Universtiy, An Giang province, Vietnam. Day-old Tam Hoang chicks (n=108) from a private hatchery were kept in a brooder for 21 days. Then, they were randomly split into 12 independent pens (9 broilers per each containing 4 males and 5 females) and fed experimental diets until reaching 56 days of age corresponding to four experimental diets: control (without additives), PRO-1 diet (basal diet with 0.5% probiotic L. acidophilus K1), PRO-2 diet (basal diet with 0.5% probiotic L. plantarum L6) and PRO-3 (basal diet with 0.5% probiotic L. acidophilus K1 and L. plantarum L6).

To formulate the probiotic preparation, Lactobacillus strains were isolated from local fermented foods and obtained from the laboratory of An Giang University, Vietnam. The probiotic preparations were processed into freeze-dried cultures and subsequently mixed into the diet. The number of bacteria in both single-strain probiotic and two-strain mixture (1:1 ratio) were 1.0×10⁸ cfu/g. The chickens were randomly divided into four dietary treatments with four replicates of 9 birds each, providing a space of 0.2 m² for each bird. The birds were vaccinated against Newcastle disease, Gumboro disease, and avian influenza prior to the experiment. Feed and water were provided ad libitum. The basal diet was formulated to meet the nutrient requirements of broiler chickens in accordance with NRC (1994) (Table 1). Chemical composition of feed ingredients was determined according to standard procedures of AOAC (2005).

All birds were weighed weekly and total feed consumption and mortality were monitored. At the end of the experiment period (56 days), two birds per replication (1 male and 1 female) were randomly selected for determination of carcass traits. The birds were subjected to 12 h of fasting prior to slaughter. After bleeding by jugular vein, the birds were plucked and eviscerated. The calculation of yield was the relationship between weight of live bird and eviscerated carcass. The complete gut was collected for length measurement. Other internal organs, such as the heart, liver, spleen, bursa of Fabricius, and abdominal fat, were removed and weighed.

Data were analyzed using the General Lineal Model (GLM) procedure of the Minitab 16.0 software.

Results and discussion

There were no differences among treatments for feed intake and live weight gain (Table 2). There is no obvious explanation for the apparently better feed conversion on the PRO-2 treatment. The lack of consistent effects on growth performance may be related to the apparently low pathogen status in the experiment, which is consistent with previous studies, when the birds were raised under low pathogen conditions (Gunal et al 2006, Shargh et al 2012). In contrast, the feed conversion was improved in broilers fed a mixture of L. salivarius CI1, CI2 and CI3 (Shokryazdan et al 2017). Similarly, Humam et al (2019) reported an improvement in feed conversion in broilers supplemented with L. plantarum RI11.

Previous publications indicated that the effect of probiotics on the performance of chickens was diverse. There were no effects of probiotic L. johnsonii strain on body weight gain or feed conversion ratio irrespective of the delivery routes (via feed, drinking water, litter, or oral administration) during five weeks of Cobb broiler rearing (Olnood et al 2015a). Even a supplementation of two potential probiotic LAB strains like L. plantarum K KKP 529/p and L. rhamnosus KKP 825 with ten times the level recommended had no positive effect on the final body weight, weight gain, nor total feed intake or feed efficiency although an improvement in health was recorded (Kupryś-Caruk et al 2018). Meanwhile no effect of multi-strain probiotic (L. johnsonii, L. crispatus, and L. salivarius) was observed on weight gain, feed intake or conversion of Cobb chickens (Olnood et al 2015b). The variations in the results from these studies could be due to multiple factors (Shokryazdan et al 2017).

The addition of probiotic had no effect on the weights of cut-up parts nor the relative weights of visceral organs and the length of intestines. These findings are compatible with the reports of previous authors (Olnood et al 2015a; Aguihe et al 2017). However, differences were observed in the weights of abdominal fat, liver and bursa while all other parameters were not affected by the dietary treatments. The lower liver weight was observed in birds fed probiotics, particularly PRO-3 (containing the two Lactobacillus strains mixed in the ratio of 1:1). The yields (relative to live weight and carcass weight) of abdominal fat tended to be at least borderline lower in PRO-3 group, followed by PRO-2, PRO-1 and control groups. The probiotic treatments also affected the weight and yields of the bursa which were found to be higher in probiotic groups compared to the control (Tables 3 and 4).

Despite the similar amount of feed intake, the probiotic-treated groups showed lower weight of abdominal fat compared to the control treatment, which could be attributed by the presence of beneficial microbes in probiotics. Adding probiotics to broiler diets could improve the carcass quality traits by reducing body fat deposition and carcass cholesterol as well as suggesting the beneficially regulation of lipid metabolism (Fouad and El-Senousey, 2014). Furthermore, differences were observed in the weight of bursa, which is in strong agreement with the findings of Aguihe et al (2017) and Willis et al (2007), proving that probiotics had a good effect on the immune response of the birds against infectious diseases. An earlier study found that the weight and morphology of the Fabricius bursa responded positively with bird age and was used to assess the health status of chicken herds to some infections, such as coccidiosis and Gumboro disease, linked with bursal atrophy by destroying immune cells (Alloui et al 2019). Heckert et al (2002) also reported that the relative weight of bursa decreased with increasing stocking density, indicating stress and immuno-suppression among commercial broilers (Heckert et al 2002).

Conclusion

• Lactobacillus sp. as probiotic had no benefit on growth performance and carcass parameters of Tam Hoang chickens but reduced the abdominal fat

Acknowledgement

This study was supported by grants of the Faculty of Agriculture and Natural resources, An Giang University.

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