Effects of Complex Probiotics and Antibiotics on Growth Performance and Meat Quality in Broilers

Abstract

This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of feeding complex probiotics (Lactobacillus casei, Bacillus subtilis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Aspergillus oryzae, Streptomyces griseus, 1.5x10(10) CFU/kg) and antibiotics (oxytetracycline (OTC), 110 ppm) on growth performance and meat quality characteristics of broiler chicks. In the experiment 1, 0.3% complex probiotics feeding level was chosen to be proper addition level due to better average daily gain (ADG), feed conversion (FC) and dressing percent (DP) results among 3 levels (0.1, 0.3 or 0.5%). In the experiment 2, 5 treatments (T I, no probiotics + no antibiotics; T2, probiotics 0.3% + no antibiotics; T3, probiotics 0.3% + antibiotics 50%; T4, probiotics 0.3% + antibiotics 100%; T5, no probiotics + antibiotics 100%) were investigated. In the growth performance of broilers, T5 (antibiotics 100% only) showed the highest (p<0.05) ADG and FC values while T1 (control) showed the worst growth performance. However, T3 (probiotics 0.3% + antibiotics 50%) showed higher ADG (p<0.05), FC (p<0.05) and DP (p>0.05) values compared to control. In the breast and leg meat quality, T3 showed similar pH, proximate composition, cooking loss and meat color values except shear force value compared to T5. Addition of 0.3% probiotics with 50% antibiotics (T3) tended to lower the blood cholesterol levels of broiler chicks and Escherichia coli or Salmonella counts in cecum microflora of broiler chicks compared to T5. In the residual antibiotics analysis, T3 contained 0.04 ppm of residual antibiotics in the breast meat while T4 or T5 contained 0.1 ppm of residual antibiotics and addition of 0.3% probiotics with 50% antibiotics in broiler diets could lower the residual antibiotics level to 40% in the meat. As a result, 0.3% probiotics addition with 50% antibiotics in the broiler diets could be recommended for the production of high quality broiler meat.