Effect of Sunflower Seed Meal Fermented with Aspergillus Niger and Saccharomyces Cerevisiae on Intestinal Morphology, Microbial Population, and Some Digestive Parameters in Broiler Chicks

This experiment was designed to investigate the effects of sunflower seed meal fermented with Aspergillus niger and the probiotic Saccharomyces cerevisiae on the morphology and microbial population of different parts of the intestine and some digestive parameters.

This experiment conducted as a completely randomized design with 200 one-day-old Ross 308 male commercial broiler chicks, in five treatments five replications and eight chickens per replication. Experimental treatments including: 1- Diet containing sunflower meal fermented with Aspergillus niger 2. Diet containing sunflower meal fermented with Saccharomyces cerevisiae 3- Diet containing sunflower meal fermented by both Aspergillus niger and Saccharomyces cerevisiae 4. Diet containing unprocessed sunflower meal 5- Control diet based on corn and soybean. The effect of treatments at the end of the 39-day raising period was investigated on the morphology of ileum, viscosity, microbial population and pH contents of broiler chick’s intestine.

Intestinal morphological results showed that the highest villus height and the ratio of villus height to crypt depth in ileum were related to birds fed fermented treatment with Aspergillus niger (p<0.05). The amount of viscosity in the jejunum and ileum of the small intestine in all three treatments contained fermented sunflower meal was higher than the treatment contained unprocessed sunflower meal (p<0.05). The treatment contained sunflower meal fermented with Aspergillus niger was the closest to the control treatment based on corn and soybean (p<0.05). The population of duodenum coliform increased significantly in the treatment contained sunflower meal fermented by Aspergillus niger (5.41) and also the treatment contained sunflower meal fermented by both fungi and yeast (5.35) compared to the control treatment (5.57). The highest population of aerobic bacteria in this section was related to the treatment contained sunflower meal fermented by Saccharomyces cerevisiae (5.45): (p<0.05). The highest populations of Lactobacillus and aerobic bacteria in the jejunum were related to the treatment contained sunflower meal fermented with Aspergillus niger (5.16) and the control treatment based on corn and soybean (6.49): (p<0.05). The highest population of Lactobacillus bacteria in the ileum was related to treatment contained sunflower meal fermented with Aspergillus niger (5.92) and treatment contained unprocessed sunflower meal (5.95): (p<0.05). Also, the highest population of coliform (5.43) and aerobic bacteria (7.61) in this part was related to the treatment containing sunflower meal fermented with Aspergillus niger (p<0.05). The population of coliform, lactobacillus and aerobic bacteria in cecum was higher in all treatments than the control treatment based on corn and soybean (p <0.05). The highest pH of duodenum and jejunum was related to control treatment based on corn and soybean (p<0.05).

The results of this experiment indicated that fermented sunflower meal with Aspergillus niger and Saccharomyces cerevisiae decreases the pH of the gastrointestinal tract contents, increases the total microbial population, decreases coliform and increases Lactobacillus and improves the intestinal morphology of broiler chicks.