Source: Michael Fielding, MEATINGPLACE, 3/9/16

Results from a recent study showed that broilers had a lower death rate and increased weight gain in the first two weeks they were fed probiotics, according to an Oklahoma State University (OSU) report.

Researchers at the school’s Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center (FAPC) studied 300 broilers housed at the OSU poultry farm for 42 days. The team fed probiotics as a supplement in the chickens’ diet by using a mixture of probiotic strains and a standard feed diet. The broilers were fed probiotics two different ways – mixed in the feed and liquid administration, according to cereal chemist Patricia Rayas.

FAPC’s Cereal Chemistry Laboratory housed the probiotic strain collection, which was sourced from wheat. The strains of probiotics were isolated, selecting those with high production of enzymes of interest.

“The advantage of using these strains of probiotics is that it helps improve the use of nutrients in the feed,” said visiting assistant professor Alejandro Penaloza. “The strains also will stabilize the microorganisms in the gut of the broilers.”

Future of probiotics in poultry
Most of the poultry industry uses probiotics only when there is a health concern for the flock, according to Christine Alvarado, associate professor at Texas A&M University’s Department of Poultry Science. However, the industry is looking at any alternative that can improve feed efficiency and decrease cost of feed.

“With the pressure to decrease sub-therapeutic antibiotics from consumer groups, the high feed costs and the need to feed our growing population in the next few years, I think that probiotics will be used by most processors in the poultry industry in the near future,” Alvarado added. “A few years ago, very few producers were using enzymes to improve feed efficiency and now I believe that currently around 95 percent of producers are using enzymes due to the high cost of feed.

The cost of the probiotics is around 1 or 2 cents per bird. That may seem high, but if producers look solely at the decrease in Necrotic Enteritis, that may save the industry $1.2 billion annually, the researchers indicated. Those cost savings do not even include lower costs as a result of improved feed efficiency, bird health, yield increases and improvements in food safety.

Daily-fed probiotics may promote better gut health since the bird is receiving good bacteria that continually colonize the intestine on a daily basis.

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