Effects of supplementation of beta-glucan on the growth performance and immunity in broilers.
Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of beta-glucan on commercial broilers. In experiment 1, one hundred and forty-four broiler chicks were employed in a 2x3 factorial design with cage and open floor housing with three levels of beta-glucan viz. 0%, 0.02% and 0.04%. In experiment 2, ninety-six broilers were used with 4 treatments: No beta-glucan and antibiotic (T1), beta-glucan 0.03% (T2), antibiotic (T3), and beta-glucan 0.03% + antibiotic (T4) for 34 d with 3 replicates of 8 chicks each in both studies. During experiment 1 there was no significant effect of the feeding system or the beta-glucan levels on the performance from 0 to 17 d but during 18-34 days birds housed on the open floor had significantly (p<0.0001) higher weight gain compared with those in cages. In experiment 2, no significant effect was noticed on the weight gains when the effect of beta-glucan, antibiotic or their interaction were tested. The retention of dry matter increased in both experiments with beta-glucan supplementation. The CD8 and TCR 1 cells were significantly higher in the 0.04% beta-glucan group at 42 days as compared with the control. It could be concluded that beta-glucan supplementation was beneficial for broilers.
Chae
B J
BJ
College of Animal Resource Science, Kangwon National University, Chunchon 200-701, Korea.
Lohakare
J D
JD
Moon
W K
WK
Lee
S L
SL
Park
Y H
YH
Hahn
T-W
TW
D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000378:metabolism; D016175:B-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D002645:Chickens / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D004435:Eating; D005243:Feces / Q000737:chemistry; D006799:Housing, Animal; D018655:Lymphocyte Count / Q000662:veterinary; D015430:Weight Gain; D047071:beta-Glucans / Q000008:administration & dosage*
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D047071:beta-Glucans