Fostering Broiler Performance and Meat Yields: Harnessing the Power of High Fiber Diet with Prebiotics, Probiotics, and Acetic Acid 1% Supplementation

Abstract

This research aimed to investigate the impact of a high-fiber diet with an additional dietary supplement prebiotics, probiotics, and organic acid on the performance, carcass characteristics, meat yields, intestinal microbial load, and immunity of broiler chickens. A total of 500 newly hatched one-day-old Cobb 500 broiler chicks, with similar average body weights of 35-40g, were randomly assigned to four treatment groups: control (high fiber diet), prebiotics (Inmunair 17.5), probiotics (ProBax®), and organic acid (acetic acid 1% in drinking water). Each treatment group consisted of five replicates, with twenty five birds in each replicate, and the experiment lasted for 33 days. The birds were raised under standard conditions and fed with experimental diets formulated to meet their nutritional requirements. The results showed that broilers in the probiotics and prebiotics groups exhibited improved growth performance, body weight gain, and feed conversion rate compared to the organic acid group. Carcass traits, including live chicken body weight, gastrointestinal tract (GIT) weight, and GIT/Chick weight ratio, were also significantly better in the probiotics and prebiotics groups than in the organic acids group. Moreover, the intestinal bacteriological analysis indicated lower total bacterial counts in the probiotics and prebiotics groups, suggesting better gut health. The findings from this study may have implications for the poultry industry, providing valuable guidance for the development of practical and sustainable strategies to improve broiler production and meat quality. Further research in this area is warranted to explore the long-term effects and economic viability of incorporating dietary fiber, prebiotics, probiotics, and organic acids into broiler diets.