IMPACT OF DIETARY SYNBIOTIC SUPPLEMENTATION ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE, HAEMATOLOGICAL INDICES, AND INTESTINAL HEALTH OF BROILER CHICKENS CHALLENGED WITH ESCHERICHIA COLI

Abstract

The experiment was conducted to investigate the impact of dietary synbiotic supplementation on the growth performance, haematological indices, and intestinal health of broiler chickens challenged with E. coli.  One hundred 2-week-old Cobb 500 broiler chickens were randomly assigned and divided into four treatment groups, each with five replicates, containing five birds. The birds were housed for 35 days (before challenge) and 45 days (after challenge) with E. coli. The design for the dietary treatment supplementation is as follows: T1- basal diet, T2-2% Bacillus licheniformis in the basal diet, T3-2% Saccharomyces cerevisiae in the basal diet, and T4- 1% each of a combination of Bacillus licheniformis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae in the basal diet. The findings revealed that dietary synbiotic supplementation had no significant effect on feed intake, average weight gain, and feed conversion ratio in the treatment groups before and after broiler chickens were challenged with E. coli (P> 0.05). The results demonstrated a significant increase (P<0.05) in total protein and albumin in the synbiotic group. The synbiotic supplementation group shows a significant effect (P<0.05) on blood cell count, except basophils, which demonstrate no significant difference (P>0.05) between the groups. Villus height and crypt depth significantly increased (P<0.05) in the synbiotic group. Dietary synbiotic supplementation had a positive impact on growth performance, haematological indices, and intestinal health parameters before and after broiler chickens were challenged with E. coli.