Source: Chris Scott, MEATINGPLACE, 9/18/15


USPOULTRY and the USPOULTRY Foundation reported progress in identifying certain probiotics that could make poultry process feed more efficiently, thereby potentially reducing overall feed costs.

The industry group said the research led by Nelson Cox and Brian Oakley at a USDA research center in Athens, Ga., hoped to identify which microbial species in the guts of chickens influence feed efficiency. The researchers also hoped to test whether microbiota in the gastrointestinal tracts of high-efficient adult birds can be provided to chicks in order to improve their feed conversion effectiveness.

The more efficient birds had several groups of bacteria that were over-represented, the research noted. Microbiota from these adult birds “did not confer any significant improvement in feed efficiency of low-efficiency chicks,” the report said. The chicks that received the probiotics from high-efficiency birds did, however, have “significantly faster growth rates and better feed conversion” than young birds that did not receive the microbiota.

The researchers said they plan to continue the tests to determine what mechanisms are driving the observed differences, which could lead to higher overall feed efficiency rates and lower food costs.

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