Evaluation of synergistic effects of diets containing fermented soybean meal and prebiotic on growth performance and some physiological parameters of broilers

In order to investigate the synergistic effects of diets containing fermented soybean meal and mannan-oligosaccharide prebiotic on growth performance and some physiological parameters of broiler chicks, an experiment was performed using 480 one- day old Ross 308 broilers in a completely randomized design with 4 treatments and 6 replicates. The experimental treatments included: 1) basal diet (based on corn and common soybean meal), 2) basal diet plus prebiotic, 3) diet containing corn and fermented soybean meal (total replacement of common soybean meal with fermented soybean meal) and 4) diet containing corn and fermented soybean meal plus prebiotic. The results of this study indicated that during the entire production period (1 to 42 days of age), birds fed diet containing fermented soybean meal plus prebiotic had higher body weight gain and better feed conversion ration than other experimental diets (p < 0.05). The increase in villus height and villus height to crypt depth ratio in duodenum and jejunum and increase in population of lactic acid producing bacteria, as well as the reduction in population of coliforms and Clostridium species in the ileum and cecum of chicks fed diets containing prebiotic, fermented soybean meal and fermented soybean meal plus prebiotic were significant when compared with control group (p < 0.05). The intestinal protease activity in birds receiving diets containing fermented soybean meal and fermented soybean meal plus prebiotic was significantly higher than those of other birds (p < 0.05).