*H.P. Cooperative Wool Procurement & Marketing Federation.
Department of Animal Nutrition, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidayalaya, Palampur-176 062, India
Online published on 29 December, 2011.
Dietary supplementation of combinations of microbes i.e. Lactobacillus Lactis tomato + Streptococcus faecium banana + Torulopsis sphaerica banana (T3) and Lactobacillus salivarius cauliflower + Streptococcus uberis apple + Pichiamembran aefaciens tomato (T4) vis-a-vis the combination of their standard strains (T1 and T2) was studied on the performance of Starbro, Kegbro and Vancob strains of broilers from 1 to 6 weeks of age. The differences in gain in weight (GIW) and feed efficiency ratio (FER) during the starter phase, among different treatments were statistically non-significant among broilers strains. During the finisher phase, in Kegbro strain the treatment T3 showed significantly (P<0.05) higher GIW in comparison to that of control and other treatments. In Vancob strain, the treatment (T4) showed matching growth rate and FER to that of control and were significantly (P<0.05) better than the other treatments. In the overall performance of the Starbro broilers i.e. 1 to 6 weeks of age, the differences were non-significant in different treatments, in Kegbro strain the performance of treatment (T3) was significantly (P<0.05) better both in GIW (10.6%) over other treatments, while in Vancob strain no treatment showed improvement over control. The trend in the total microbial counts in the crop and small intestine of broilers under different treatments were similar to that of growth response. It appears that only the microbial combination of L, lactis tomato + S. faecium banana + T. sphaerica banana has a good mutual compatibility only in Kegbro strain of broilers due to their better and effective colonization in their gastro-intestinal tracts, and the cost per kilogram gain in live weight was also the lowest. On the basis of the overall biological responses, the probiotics seem to colonize in the GIT of the chicks of a particular strain and also show proper compatibility only with a combinati on of suitable microbes.
Microbial strains, Probiotics, Broilers strains
