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This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of Lactobacillus acidophilus on performance, carcass characteristics, blood parameters, and intestinal microflora of broiler chicks. The dietary treatments were: basal diet as control 1; basal diet plus 1g. kg-1 of a commercial probiotic Bioplus2; basal diet plus 10 and 20 g kg-1 fermented milk that contained 2×108 cfu g-1 Lactobacillus acidophilus. To evaluate the effect of water alone on chick performance, equal volume of water in 20 g fermented milk was added to each kg of the basal diet (control 2). A total of 280 one-day old male broiler chicks were randomly allocated to 5 experimental groups of 4 replicates of 14 chicks each. The chicks were grown to 42 d of age. The result of the experiment indicated that feed intake in chicks fed diet supplemented with commercial probiotic was significantly higher than L. acidophilus probiotic. Weight gain for the chicks fed with the diet that contained 20 g kg-1 fermented milk was higher than the control chicks, in the first 3 weeks. There was no significant difference in feed conversion and weight of organs. The number of Lactobacilli in ileum and colon were higher in L. acidophilus treated birds than the control group and also the number of Coliforms was lower, but the effects were not statistically significant. The levels of blood cholesterol, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotrasferase and alkaline phosphatase were the highest in the control group, but the effect was statistically significant only for ALT measured at 21 d of age.

Keywords: probiotic, Broiler chicken, Lactobacillus acidophilus

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