NUTRIENT DIGESTIBILITY OF FINISHER BROILER CHICKENS ADMINSTERED Bacillus subtilis (PROBIOTICS) IN DRINKING WATER

Abstract

A 28-day feeding trial study was conducted to evaluate the effect of Bacillus subtilis (probiotics) supplementation on the growth performance of finisher broiler chickens. One hundred and twenty (120), three (3) weeks old mixed sex chicks were used in this study. The birds were randomly assigned to four treatment groups, T1, T2, T3, and T4 with Bacillus subtilis probiotics supplementation at 0ml/litre, 10ml/litre, 20ml/litre and 30ml/litre in drinking water respectively. The treatment groups were replicated three times with ten (10) birds per replicate in a Complete Randomized Design. The birds were housed in deep litter pens and all necessary routine management practices were observed. At the end of the 4 weeks experimental period, three (3) chickens representing the average group weight were selected from each treatment and were housed individually in separate cages for faecal collection. The trial lasted for 7 days; however, there was two days adjustment period before the commencement of the trial. During collection, contaminants were removed from the faeces. Daily feed intake per bird was recorded. Faecal samples were oven-dried at 80oC for 24 hours and proximate analysis was carried out to determine the nutrient composition. The data collected were statistically analysed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with SPSS version 16.0 and significance of differences among treatments was determined using Duncan multiple range test. The result of the study showed that, there was significant differences (P<0.05) in the dry matter, crude protein and crude fibre digestibility. However, no significant (P>0.05) difference was observed in the ash and nitrogen free extract digestibility. Therefore, supplementation of grower-finisher broiler diets with Bacillus subtilis had positive impact