Probiotic supplementation as an alternative to antibiotics in broiler chickens
, Jowita Samanta Niczyporuk
Profil Orcid, , , Łukasz Bocian
Profil Orcid, oraz 
Data publikacji: 23 mar 2024
Zakres stron: 147 - 154
Otrzymano: 31 sie 2023
Przyjęty: 15 lut 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jvetres-2024-0009
Słowa kluczowe
© 2024 Grzegorz Tomczyk et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.
Introduction
The broiler chicken digestive tract microbiome maintains the bird’s immunity. Its composition has been shown to be important not only for the immune system but also for the gastrointestinal function and productivity of broiler chickens. If the microbiome is populated by supplementation with
Material and Methods
Four groups of Ross 308 chickens vaccinated on the standard scheme were investigated over 42 days. Group P received probiotics, prebiotics and vitamins; group AO received antibiotics; group P&AO received probiotics, prebiotics, vitamins and antibiotics; and the control group C received none of these. The birds’ immunocompetence against common viral poultry pathogens and their immune response to an experimental challenge with a field strain of infectious bronchitis was evaluated by ELISA and production parameters were recorded.
Results
Mortality was only observed in the control group and was 10%. All birds from the P, P&AO and AO groups responded to the challenge as would be expected of appropriately immunised chickens.
Conclusion
The obtained results indicated that supplementation with synbiotic products and vitamins can enhance broiler chicken immunity and result in better production parameters.