Effect of Vinegar and Probiotics on Growth Performance, Chyme pH and Lactobacillus Population of very Young Broiler Chicks

This experiment was carried out to evaluate the effects of adding vinegar to drinking water (DW) and probiotic to starter diet (SD) on growth performance, gastrointestinal tract (GIT) contents pH, and ileal lactobacillus population of broiler chicks. A total of 330 one-day-old male Ross-308 broiler chicks were used in a completely randomized design (CRD) experiment consisted of 6 treatments with factorial arrangement 2×3 and 5 replicates of 11b each. Treatments consisted of 2 levels of adding probiotic zero and 0.1% “1×1010 CFU lactic acid/g of supplement” to SD and 3 levels of adding vinegar zero, 1 and 2% “5% acetic acid concentration” to DW. A corn-soybean meal based diet was formulated to meet the nutrient levels suggested by Ross-308 (2015). The study lasted from 110d of age. At the 10th day of age’s one bird from each experimental unit (5 for each treatment) were randomly selected and were slaughtered for evaluation GIT content pH, and ileal lactobacillus population. In the birds were fed supplemented diet with probiotic combination drunk supplemented water with 1 and 2% vinegar levels feed intake (FI) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were significantly lower than birds fed diet and drunk water without any supplementation. In the birds were fed supplemented diet with probiotic and or were drunk supplemented water with vinegar, ileal lactobacillus population were significantly higher than birds fed diet and drunk water without any supplementation. The addition vinegar to DW and probiotic to SD, and their interaction effects were not significant on the pH of GIT contents. In conclusion, drinking water supplementation with vinegar and or starter diet supplementation with probiotic will improved ileal benefit microbial flora and feed efficiency of broiler chicks.