The effects of Blood Rumen Content Mixture (BRCM) meal supplemented with yeast on the performance and gut microbial populations of broiler chickens

Abstract

One hundred and twenty (120) arbor acre strain day old broiler chicks were used to investigate the effects of blood rumen content mixture (BRCM) meal supplemented with Levucel SB yeast on the performance and gut microbial populations of broiler chickens. Four diets were formulated both at the starter and finisher stages of the experiment. Diet 1 had neither blood rumen content mixture (BRCM) nor yeast supplementation. However diets 2, 3 and 4 contained 3.5, 7.0 and 10.5% BRCM respectively all supplemented with 2.5g/kg diet Levucel SB yeast. Dietary treatments were replicated three times using a completely randomized design. Each replicate treatment had 10 chicks. The experiment lasted for eight weeks. Results showed a significant increase (p<0.05) in feed intake. The highest feed intake (2.80 kg per bird) was recorded among broiler chickens fed on diets containing 3.5 and 10.5% BRCM (p< 0.05). Body weight gain and feed conversion ratio were similar for birds in all dietary treatments (p>0.05). Ileal and caecal microbial populations were significantly increased both at 10-2 and 10-3 serial dilutions (P<0.05). All dietary treatments had Bacillus species of bacteria in their isolates. Only dietary treatments containing BRCM supplemented with Levucel SB yeast had Streptococcus and Staphylococcus species of bacteria in the isolates from the ileum and ceacum portions of the small intestine. It was concluded that when supplemented with yeast, BRCM meal up to 10.5% in broiler feed had no detrimental effect on broiler performance. It also enhanced the development of beneficial gut microbes.

Keywords: Broilers, Blood Rumen Content, Performance, gut microbes, Levucel SB yeast