Abstract

Combinations of probiotic microorganisms are the study of interest due to beneficial impact through synergistic actions. Several researchers including our previous result found positive effects of various combinations of probiotic inclusion in broiler diet. In the current study, the efficacy of combinations of probiotic organisms by adding Rhodopseudomonas spp. was the primary interest on growth performance, mortality, immunity and cecal microflora in broilers. According to the completely randomized design, three hundred day-old Ross broiler chicks (initial BW, 45.08 ± 0.79 g) were randomly allocated to three dietary treatments with ten replications of 10 birds per replicate. Broilers were reared for 5 weeks, where experimental diets were provided for starter (0 to 3 weeks) and finisher (4 to 5 weeks) period. The dietary treatments were, CON = control (corn-soybean meal based basal diet); ABT = basal diet + chlortetracycline-HCl; RCMP = basal diet + multi-microbe probiotic, (Bacillus spp. + Lactobacillus spp. + Saccharomyces spp. + Rhodopseudomonas spp.). Present study revealed that, dietary supplementation of RCMP significantly improved overall average daily gain and feed conversion ratio compared to CON (P<0.05). Mortality rate was significantly reduced in RCMP and ABT supplemented group compared to CON (P<0.05). Serum immunoglobulin level was upgraded after RCMP and ABT supplementation relative to CON but remained nonsignificant (P>0.05). Moreover, cecal pathogenic Escherichia coli and Salmonella was significantly suppressed in RCMP and ABT supplemented group compared to CON (P<0.05); while number of beneficial microorganisms were higher in ABT and RCMP relative to CON but not significant (P>0.05). Thus, dietary supplementation of Rhodopseudomonas-based multi-microbe probiotic (RCMP) has the potentiality to be used as effective feed additives in broilers. 

Key words: Broilers, multi-microbe probiotic combinations, immunity, mortality, performance.