Preparation of probiotics cocktail from chicken gut flora and evaluation of its effect on immune response and growth performance of broiler chicks / Maha Shawky Abdelkawy ; Supervised Rafik Tawfik Soliman , Khaled Nasreldeen Fahmy , Gihan Mohamed Elmoghazy

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Veterinary Medicine - Department of Microbiology

In this study an experiment was performed with a total of 280 one-day old SPF broiler chicks to evaluate the effects of probiotics, alone or in combination, on growth performance, gut morphometry and immune response to fowl cholera vaccination. The birds were randomly divided into seven groups each of 40 chicks and the experiment lasted for 42 days. The probiotic microorganisms that were offered via water included Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium bifidum, Enterococcus faecium, Bacillus subtilis and Saccharomyces cervisiae. Significant increase in the food conversion rate was recorded in group 4 that received probiotic mixture composed of Lactobacillus acidophilus and Saccharomyces cervisiae. Also, significantly high geometric mean titer (GMT) of P. multocida specific-antibodies and lowest morbidity and mortality rates post P. multocida challenge were recorded in this group. The effect of different probiotics on themorphometric changes in the gut tissues was determined, where significant increase in the duodenal and ileum villus height and average crypt depth were recorded in probiotic treated chicks compared to the negative control. The increase in the gut villi height is proved to be associated with increase absorption capability of nutrients from the intestine

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