Dietary supplementation of a mixture of Lactobacillus strains enhances performance of broiler chickens raised under heat stress conditions

• Published in: International journal of biometeorology 2016-07, Vol.60 (7), p.1099-1110
• Main Authors: Faseleh Jahromi, Mohammad, Yassir Wesam Altaher, Parisa Shokryazdan, Roohollah Ebrahimi, Mahdi Ebrahimi, Zulkifli Idrus, Vincenzo Tufarelli, Juan Boo Liang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Absorption; Ambient temperature; Animal Physiology; Animals; antioxidant activity; average daily gain; Bacteria; bioclimatology; Biological and Medical Physics; Biophysics; Birds; Body weight; breast muscle; broiler chickens; cecum; Cecum - metabolism; Cecum - microbiology; Chickens; Chickens - physiology; chicks; Diet; Dietary supplements; E coli; Earth and Environmental Science; Environment; Environmental Health; Escherichia coli; fatty acid composition; Fatty acids; Fatty Acids - metabolism; feed intake; Gene Expression Regulation; genes; Heat; heat production; heat stress; Heat tolerance; High temperature; Hot Temperature; humid tropics; Lactobacillus; Lactobacillus acidophilus; Lactobacillus pentosus; liver; Liver - metabolism; Low temperature; Male; meat; Meteorology; Monosaccharide Transport Proteins - genetics; Muscle, Skeletal - metabolism; Nutrients; Original Paper; Plant Physiology; Poultry; Poultry production; Probiotics; small intestine; Stress, Physiological - genetics; Stress, Physiological - physiology; sugars; Tropical environments; volatile fatty acids
• ISSN: 0020-7128; 1432-1254
• DOI: 10.1007/s00484-015-1103-x

High ambient temperature is a major problem in commercial broiler production in the humid tropics because high producing broiler birds consume more feed, have higher metabolic activity, and thus higher body heat production. To evaluate the effects of two previously isolated potential probiotic strains (Lactobacillus pentosus ITA23 and Lactobacillus acidophilus ITA44) on broilers growing under heat stress condition, a total of 192 chicks were randomly allocated into four treatment groups of 48 chickens each as follows: CL, birds fed with basal diet raised in 24 °C; PL, birds fed with basal diet plus 0.1 % probiotic mixture raised in 24 °C; CH, birds fed with basal diet raised in 35 °C; and PH, birds fed with basal diet plus 0.1 % probiotic mixture raised in 35 °C. The effects of probiotic mixture on the performance, expression of nutrient absorption genes of the small intestine, volatile fatty acids (VFA) and microbial population of cecal contents, antioxidant capacity of liver, and fatty acid composition of breast muscle were investigated. Results showed that probiotic positively affected the final body weight under both temperature conditions (PL and PH groups) compared to their respective control groups (CL and CH). Probiotic supplementation numerically improved the average daily gain (ADG) under lower temperature, but significantly improved ADG under the higher temperature (P