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Original Research
2.
Effect of yeast culture supplementation on carcass
yield and humoral immune response of broiler chicks -
M M Fathi, S Al-Mansour, A Al-Homidan, A Al-Khalaf ,
M Al-Damegh
Vet World. 2012; 5(11): 651-657
doi:
10.5455/vetworld.2012.
651-657
Abstract
Aim: A
study was conducted to evaluate the effect of
supplemental yeast culture (Diamond V XPC Yeast
Culture; YC) in broiler diets on carcass
characteristics and humoral immune response.
Materials and Methods: A total of 240
one-day-old broiler chicks (Ross 308) were randomly
assigned to four YC dietary treatments of 60 birds
each. The dietary treatments were 0 (control), 1,
1.25 and 1.5 g YC/kg diet over 42 d.
Results:
The results revealed that the birds fed yeast
cultures had statistically increased (P < 0.05) body
weight from control birds only at 5-6 weeks of age.
The highest inclusion level (1.5g/kg) recorded the
best weight. The broiler chicks fed a diet
supplemented with 1.25g/kg had the lowest mortality
rate over the whole period of the experiment. The
birds given the highest level of yeast (1.5g/kg) had
significantly (P < 0.05) higher percentage of major
and minor breast muscles compared with the others
that fed a basal diet. A significantly (P < 0.01)
increase in IgM titer was noticed in birds fed diet
containing YC levels more than 1g/kg at 7 days
post-injection with sheep red blood cells. Likewise,
broilers fed a diet containing 1.25g/kg exhibited a
higher level of antibody titer against Newcastle
disease virus at latter age (on d 42) compared with
the other groups. Conclusion: The data
suggest improvement in growth performance, carcass
yield and humoral immunity of broilers fed yeast
culture supplementation diet.
Keywords:
broiler, carcass, humoral immunity, yeast
