Vol. 12, Special Issue 6 (2023)

Author(s):
Faheem Abdul Basit, Ankur Rastogi, RK Sharma, Pratiksha Raghuwanshi, Arvind Kumar, Puneet Singh, Zulfqar ul Haq and Ramandeep Kour

Abstract:
The present research work scrutinized the nutrient utilization of broiler chickens as affected by the dietary supplementation of a prebiotic fraction of rumen liquor compared to xylooligosaccharides supplementation. Rumen liquor (RL) of sheep and goats was collected from a slaughterhouse and then processed in the laboratory to extract a soluble fibre fraction. Four hundred eighty broiler chicks were randomly assigned to treatment groups: CO, RL, XOS, and AB. Each group contained six replicates of twenty birds. The CO group was fed a basal diet without supplementation; RL and XOS groups were fed a basal diet supplemented with RL extract or XOS @ 0.05% (w/w), respectively, whereas the AB group was fed a basal diet with antibiotic growth promoter (Enramycin-8) @ 0.0125%. A metabolic trial was conducted during the last week of the experiment on two birds per replicate. The mean daily nutrient intake remained comparable among the experimental groups. The DM and OM metabolizability was similar in RL, XOS and CO groups but was significantly lower in the AB group. The crude fibre metabolizability was higher in XOS and RL groups than in AB and CO groups. There was no significant difference in nitrogen, calcium and phosphorus balance. It is concluded that nutrient utilization is unaffected by prebiotic supplementation, including RL supplementation. Further, no untoward effect of RL supplementation was observed over nutrient utilization in broiler chicks.