Impacts of Probiotic feeding on Behavior and Welfare related parameters of Heat Stressed Broilers | ||
SVU-International Journal of Veterinary Sciences | ||
Article 9, Volume 4, Issue 1 - Serial Number 7, March 2021, Pages 87-96 PDF (319.46 K) | ||
Document Type: Research article | ||
DOI: 10.21608/svu.2021.58578.1101 | ||
Authors | ||
Eslam Khalifa Hassan Ahmed1; Moataz Ahmed Abdel-Rahman* 2; Khaled Ghareeb1 | ||
1Department of Animal Behavior and Management, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, South Valley University, Qena, Egypt | ||
2Dept. of Behavior, management and animal wealth, faculty of veterinary medicine, Minia university, Minia, Egypt | ||
Abstract | ||
This study was performed to detect the efficacy of probiotic (PROBAC plus) as anti-stress on behavior and welfare of heat-stressed broilers (32-35oc) from age 22d to 42d. One-hundred twenty chick were divided into 4 groups. The first group was control (basal diet), second was broilers reared at high temperature (basal diet), third was broilers reared at high temperature (basal diet + Probiotic) and fourth was probiotic group (basal diet + probiotic). Behavioral patterns of broilers were recorded from week 4 till the end of the experiment. At last day of experiment, 10 birds from each group were slaughtered to collect blood samples. Blood films were stained for measuring heterophils / lymphocytes (H / L) ratio. Serum cortisol was measured. The results showed that feeding, comfort behaviors, and movement activities of heat-stressed broilers were decreased while the drinking frequency was increased. Heat-stressed birds showed higher H / L ratio and cortisol concentration. Addition of probiotic either to diets of birds reared with or without stress improved some behaviors of birds and decreased H / L ratio and cortisol hormone. These results suggest that feeding of probiotic can be a useful tool to counteract the adverse effects of heat stress in broiler industry. | ||
Keywords | ||
Behavior; Welfare; Broilers; Heat Stress; Probiotic | ||
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