Effect of herbal flour and probiotic in diet for poultry of gene pool breeds on intestinal microbiome, fat deposition and foliculogenesis

Probiotics are used in poultry farming for prevention and treatment of infectious diseases of gastrointestinal tract, immune stimulation, correction of dysbacteriosis of digestive tract, and for replacement of antibiotics in compound feed. Increasing the fiber level in diet for poultry is considered as one of the nutrition strategies with the aim of reduction of the frequency of problems in the gastrointestinal tract as well. The purpose of research is to study the effect of grass meal and probiotic in diet for poultry on the intestinal microbiota, fat deposition and folliculogenesis. The experiment had been conducted on meat-and-egg type of hens of Amrox and Sussex breeds. From 18 weeks of age, within 12 weeks hens of the control groups were fed a normal diet, in the I experimental group 10 % of the usual diet was replaced with alfalfa grass flour, and in the II experimental group 10 % of the diet was replaced with grass flour with addition of enzyme preparation “Cellobacterin-T”, produced by Biotrof Ltd. Feeding grass meal along with probiotic positively affected the metabolic processes in body, so the amount of abdominal fat in carcass decreased. Fat reduction exceeded 20 % in poultry of experimental groups. It has been also determined that the number of maturing follicles in the ovaries of hens in experimental groups was 25-64 % higher, which indicates a positive effect of the experimental diet on potential egg production. Analysis of cecum contents in digestive tract of hens using the modern molecular genetic method T-RFLP showed that use of grass meal in diet for poultry along with Cellobacterin-T probiotic contributed to formation of useful microflora, as well as to decrease in the number of undesirable actinomycetes and pathogenic mycoplasmas in gastrointestinal tract of hens.