Effects of dietary yeast cell wall powder, in combination with butyric acid supplementation, on growth performance, carcass characteristics, ileal microbial counts and serum biochemical metabolites of broiler chickens

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of supplemental yeast cell wall (YCW) powder and butyric acid (BA) on the growth performance, carcass traits, ileal microbial population, and serum metabolites of broiler chickens. A total of two hundred day-old broiler chickens were assigned to 4 treatments with 5 replicate pens of 10 birds per pen. The dietary treatments consisted of a basal diet (control), basal diet + 3 g/kg YCW, basal diet + 2.5 g/kg BA and basal diet + 3 g/kg YCW + 2.5 g/kg BA. The results showed that dietary treatments did not alter growth performance parameter. However, in carcass traits, addition of BA decreased the relative weight of thigh (p<0.05). The Salmonella counts decreased in broilers fed YCW+BA supplementation (p<0.05). In contrast, the population of ileal Lactobacilli increased in YCW+BA treatment (p<0.05). The dietary treatments had no significant effect on E.coli and total bacteria counts in broilers. In serum metabolites, the concentration of Aspartate aminotransferase was greatest in broilers received control diet (p<0.05). It is concluded that YCW and BA had no negative effect on growth performance in broilers. In addition, the microbiota activity was improved in broilers received YCW in combination with BA in broiler chickens.