Effects of pre-pelleting whole corn inclusion on broiler performance, intestinal microbiota, and carcass characteristics

Summary This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of whole corn inclusion before pelleting on performance, processing yield, and microbiome modulation of broilers from 1 to 42 d of age. One thousand male Ross 708 broilers were randomly distributed among four treatments with 10 replicate pens per treatment and 25 broilers per pen. Treatments consisted of four levels of whole corn (0, 2.5, 5.0, and 7.5%) replacing ground corn. Feed intake and BW were determined at 14, 28, and 42 d and FCR calculated by considering the weight of the mortality. At 42 d, ileal and cecal contents were analyzed to determine intestinal microbiota. At 43 d, 10 birds/pen were processed for yield determination. Data were evaluated using ANOVA procedure (PROC GLM) and means separated by Tukey HSD procedure. Inclusion of whole corn did not influence BW and feed intake (P>0.05) to 42 d of age. However, broilers consuming diets with 2.5, 5.0 and 7.5% whole corn had lower FCR from 28 to 42 d of age (1.93, 1.95 and 1.94 vs. 2.00, P