STUDY THE EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT LEVELS OF HULL-LESS BARLEY ON CAECAL MICRO FLORA OF BROILER CHICKS

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of diets containing different levels of hull-less barley on caecal microflora of broiler chicks. Two hundred and forty one-day old male broiler chicks (Arbor Acres strain) were used in a completely randomized design with 4 tratments, and 3 replicates were allocated to each treatment. Different levels of hull-less barley in diets had not significant effects on total bacterial count, E.coli, Clostridia and Lactobacillus population in caeca at starter period(21days old), but at 49 days of age, caecal Lactobacilus population increased significantly by increasing the levels of hull-less barley in diets(p<0.05). Based on the results of the present study, it can be stated that inclusion of hull-less barley in diets, change the caecal microflora of broiler chicks. These components reduced pathogenic bacteria (Clostridia) and increased the usefull bacteria (Lactobacillus).