Probiotic Supplemented diet improved the gut morphology of broiler chickens

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of baker’s yeast (saccharomyces cerevisiae) inclusion as probiotic on gut morphology of broiler chickens in the northern guinea savannah. Two hundred and fifty-five day old broiler chicks were used for the study. The chickens were fed diets containing graded levels of saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC). There were five treatment groups for both starter and finisher phases. Each treatment group had three replicates with 17 birds per replicate and fifty-one birds per group in a completely randomized design (CRD). Treatments 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 contained 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0% SC respectively.Data obtained from the experiment were subjected to the analysis of variance (ANOVA) using the general linear model procedure of (SAS, 2001). Significant differences among treatment means were compared using Dunnetts. The results obtained showed significant difference (P<0.05) in villi density, villi Area, villi perimeter, villi height and villi width. No significant (P>0.05) difference between treatment groups fed 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5% level of SC inclusion in terms of villi area. Villi perimeter was significantly higher (2347.2μm) in broiler chickens fed 2.0% SC. Broiler chickens fed 1.0 and 1.5% SC did not differ (P>0.05) significantly in terms of villi height; though chickens fed 1.0% SC had the highest (870.3μm) mean value while the least value (525.5μm) was obtained in the broiler chickens fed control diet. Villi width was higher (358.14μm) in chickens fed 2.0% SC compared to other treatment groups. It is concluded from the study that inclusion of SC in the diet of broilers improved the gut morphology which is an indication of healthy gut which is important for optimum performances of the birds.