Effect of fermented date pite by Aspergillus niger and Bacillus

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of feeding  fermented date  pite (FDP) on performance, carcass traits and ileal microbial population  in  broiler chickens. In a  2 ×4  factorial arrangement, 540 day – old broiler chicks were randomly assigned to one of nine experimental diets, each with five replicates containing 12 chicks each. Dietary treatments  included a corn- soybean meal – based diet (control), and diets containing  2, 4, 6 and 8%  raw date pit (RDP)  and 2, 4, 6 and 8 % fermented date pit (FDP). Fermentation process effectively decreased crude fiber and increased crude protein (p < 0.05).   Feeding fermented date pite increased feed intake and improved body weight gain in finisher period (25- 42 day) of the experiment (p < 0.05 ). In this period  birds fed FDP with level  8%  had  significantly (p <0.05 ) body weight  higher in comparison to chicks fed diet control ( 1474 gr vs 1336 gr ). Birds fed FDP had  feed cost higher compared to chick fed RDP (p<0.05). Abdominal fat and gizzard  was significantly lower in broiler fed FDP than to RDP (p <0.05 ). Lactic acid  bacteria  population  and coliform  in ileum of broilers fed diet containing  FDP  as  compared to RDP were  significantly higher and lower respectively (p<0.05). Results of this study demonstrated that fermentation date pite in level 8% led to performance improvement in broiler chickens during finisher period.