Performance, Intestinal Morphology and Microbiology of Broiler Chickens Fed Egg Powder in the Starter Diet

• Autor(a) principal: Esmailzadeh,L
• Data de Publicação: 2016
• Outros Autores: Shivazad,M, Sadeghi,AA, Karimitorshizi,M
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Brazilian Journal of Poultry Science (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-635X2016000400705
• topic: Broilers; egg powder; intestinal microbiology; intestinal morphology; performance; starter diet

ABSTRACT The effect of egg powder inclusion in the pre-starter diet (1-7 days of age) on the performance, and intestinal morphology and microbiology of male broiler chickens was evaluated in a completely randomized design. Starter diets with equal metabolizable energy and crude protein levels were formulated to contain 0, 20, 40, or 60 g egg powder/kg diet. Results showed that body weight, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, and European efficiency index were positively affected (p≤0.05) by egg powder inclusion in the starter diet. Inclusion of 40 g egg powder/kg diet in the starter diet promoted the best performance results. Jejunal villus height and villus to crypt ratio increased (p≤0.05) and intestinal length decreased (p≤0.05) as a result of egg powder inclusion in the starter diet. Egg powder inclusion in the starter diet reduced (p≤0.05E. coli counts, but increased (p≤0.05) lactic acid bacteria counts in the small intestine. The results obtained in the present study indicate that the inclusion of 40 60 g egg powder/kg of starter diet g improved the performance and intestinal health of broilers.