DIGESTA CHARACTERISTICS AND NUTRIENT DIGESTIBILITY OF BROILERS FED SACCHAROMYCES CEREVISIAE IN VARIED CEREAL BASED DIETS

Abstract

The effect of Saccharomyces cerevisae (SC) as supplemental protein and probiotics in different cereal based diets on digesta pH, viscosity, water retention and ileal nutrient digestibility were assessed in broiler chicks. 324 day old arbor acre broilers were randomly allotted to 9 treatments of 3 replicates with 12 birds each. Maize, sorghum and wheat based diets were formulated to contain 5% of a commercial SC product (Baker's yeast), 0% SC (-ve control) and 0.2% oxytetracycline (+ve control) respectively. 0.2% titanium dioxide as marker was added to the feed on day 25 of the study, on day 28, two birds per replicate were euthanized and digesta collected from duodenum, jejunum ileum and caeeca. Data obtained were analysed with ANOVA at p=0.05. Inclusion of Saccharomyces cerevisiae at 5% in different cereal based diets did not influence digesta characteristics (p>0.05). Crude protein digestibility significantly reduced from 73.57% to 57.38% in sorghum and 76.76 to 66.13% in wheat respectively. Dry matter digestibility was not affected (p>0.05). In conclusion, supplementation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae at 5% did not affect digesta characteristics as well as improve dry matter and Crude protein digestibility in this study