Effect of fermented fish waste in feeding broiler chickens on gastrointestinal microbial population and blood parameters

This experiment was conducted to study the effect of fermented fish waste in feeding broiler chickens on gastrointestinal microbial population and blood parameters. Fish waste per Kg was fermented with 15% molasses and 5% starter culture (containing Lactobacillus plantarum and Aspergillus oryzae). After the 15 days of fermentation, the amounts of pH and lactic acid bacteria population (log10 CFU/g) in fish waste were changed from 6.12 and 6.99 to 3.91 and 11.88 in fermented fish waste, respectively. A total of 240 male Cobb 500 broilers were allocated into 5 treatments with 4 replicates of 12 chickens each using a completely randomized design. Experimental treatments contained 0, 3, 6, 9 and 12% fermented fish waste replaced by soybean meal in diets. Results showed that replacement of different levels of fermented fish waste with soybean meal in broiler’s diets decreased pH in crop and ileum compared to the control group. Feeding fish waste fermentation in ages of 11-22 and 23-42 days resulted to increase lactic acid bacteria population in crop and decrease coliforms population in ileum of broilers (P