The Dynamics of Dietary Supplementation of Direct Fed Microbial and Antibiotic on the Haemato-Biochemical Values of Broiler Chickens

Abstract

With the restriction in the use of antibiotics in animal nutrition as growth promoters there has been increased interest in the discovery and use of natural alternatives. This experiment was conducted to investigate the influence of Direct fed microbial (RE3) and antibiotics (FYSAL^®-DRY SP) on haematological and serum biochemistry of broiler chickens. Two hundred and forty one-day-old unsexed Marshal strain of broiler chicks were used for the experiment. The birds were randomly divided into 3 groups of 4 replicates of 20 birds each to make a total of 80 birds per treatment in a complete randomized design experiment. Three diets were formulated as follows Diet 1 was the control without probiotic or antibiotic, Diet 2- control diet  plus Direct fed microbial (1.5ml/kg of feed) and  Diet 3- control diet plus antibiotics (2g/kg of feed). The experiment lasted for 8 weeks. Blood samples were collected from the birds for haematological studies and serum biochemistry. Results showed that haematological parameters were not adversely (p>0.05) affected by the dietary treatments. The values obtained for serum total protein, globulin and albumin were not significantly (p>0.05) affected among the dietary treatments. However, blood cholesterol level was significantly lowered in diets containing direct fed microbial and antibiotics.  It was concluded that addition of probiotic could be more beneficial in reducing cholesterol in broiler chickens.

Keywords: Antibiotic, Broilers, Cholesterol, Direct fed Microbial, Haematological parameters