ALTERNATIVES TO THE USE OF ANTIBIOTIC GROWTH PROMOTERS FOR BROILER CHICKENS: 1. PROBIOTICS

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of different antibiotics, probiotics and their combination on performance and carcass yield of broiler chickens. Also, the experiment aimed to verify the probiotics sensibility to the antibiotics and the coccidiostatic utilized. Fourteen hundred and forty one-day-old male chicks, Hubbard, were randomly distributed in a 3 x 3 factorial design: antibiotic in the diet (without antibiotic, virginiamicin, and avilamicin) and probiotic in the diet (without probiotic, and probiotics A and B), totaling nine treatments with four replicates of 40 birds each. The probiotics were: A) Streptococcus faecium, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Saccharomyces cerevisiae; B) Bacillus subtilis. It was verified that the tested probiotics can be used together with sodic monensine (coccidiostatic) and the avilamicin (growth promoter). However, the presence of virginiamicin can impair the probiotics viability, since the probiotics microorganisms were sensible to virginiamicin (observed in vitro). There was no significant interaction between antibiotic and probiotic for the evaluated variables. Mortality was reduced by the use of probiotics A or B, whereas the use of avilamicin increased mortality from 1 to 42 days of age. The other performance, carcass and parts yield characteristics were not influenced by the administration of probiotics, antibiotics or by the combination of such products in the diets.   

KEY WORDS: Additives, birds, carcass yield, parts yield, performance.