EFFECTS OF GRADED LEVELS OF PROBIOTIC (BIOVET-YC) SUPPLEMENTATION ON THE PERFORMANCE OF BROILER CHICKENS

The study was carried out to evaluate the effect of probiotic (Biovet-YC) supplementation on growth performance in broiler chickens. A total of two hundred day old Agrited broiler chicks were subjected to 56-day study period. Chicks were randomly allotted to five dietary treatments with 10 birds per replicate and 40 birds per treatment in a completely randomize design (CRD). The levels of probiotic inclusion were 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15 and 0.2% as represented by T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 respectively. The birds in all the groups were reared under deep litter system; feed and water were provided ad-libitum. Dietary probiotic significantly (P<0.05) improved weight gain and feed intake birds on T1 recorded the lowest feed intake (53.03g) while those on T4 recorded  the highest (59.90g) whereas, feed conversion ratio was not significantly altered at the starter phase of the experiment (Birds on T1 recorded 3.77 while birds on T4 recorded the least FCR of 3.29). At the finisher phase weight gain and feed conversion ratio were significant at (P<0.01) and (P<0.05) respectively, while daily feed intake was not affected. Birds on T4 had the highest daily weight gain (18.18g) and (35.24g) while those on control had the lowest (14.06g) and (30.51g) for starter and finisher respectively. The same trend was elicited for feed conversion ratio. The economic analysis showed significant variation in feed cost per kg gain in terms of broiler production across treatment groups T1 (control) was N 345.11/kg gain while T4 recorded the least N 288.61/kg gain. Probiotic supplementation in broiler diets could improve growth performance. Moreover, supplementation of probiotic in the level of 0.15% can safely be used in diets of broilers.