Effects of Dietary Bacillus coagulans D3372 Supplementation as Probiotics on Broiler Performance, Ileal Microflora, Meat Quality, Nutrient Retention, and Metabolizable Energy

A study was carried out to investigate the impacts of supplemental diets with Bacillus coagulans D3372 as a probiotic (BCP) on broiler performance, ileal microflora, meat quality, nutrient retention, and metabolizable energy. Six hundred one-day-old chicks were randomly allotted in 4 treatments with 5 replicates (30 birds in each replication with similar ratio of male and female) for 35 days. Dietary treatments were (T0) basal diet (BD) without BCP, (T1) BD + 105 CFU of BCP/g of diet, (T2) BD + 106 CFU of BCP/g of diet, and (T3) BD + 107 CFU of BCP/g diet. The BCP supplementation of broiler diets improved the body weight gain and reduced the feed conversion ratio at the final of experimental periods (P<0.05), compared with that fed T0. Nevertheless, the inclusion of probiotics had no effects on ileal Lactobacillus and E. coli counts of broilers (P>0.05). Chicks fed probiotics had a significant reduction of carcass cholesterol levels (P<0.05) than that fed T0 diet. Addition of BCP in broiler diets markedly enhanced protein (P<0.05) and fat (P<0.05) retentions compared with those of the T0 group. However, BCP supplementation significantly improved true metabolizable energy (P<0.05) and nitrogen-corrected metabolizable energy (P<0.05) of broilers. This suggests that dietary addition with BCP can promote growth performance by improving the protein retention, fat retention, and metabolizable energy utilizations of broiler chickens, and reduce cholesterol levels of the carcass, with no impact on ileal microflora.