Evaluating the Effects of Postbiotic Products on Broiler Performance and Stress Response

Abstract

Reducing stress and improving production are two of the main goals associated broiler production. Commercially available products like XPC (Diamond V Mills, Cedar Rapids Iowa) and Celmanax (Arm & Hammer Animal Nutrition, Princeton, New Jersey) have been shown to decrease the severity of stress resulting from stressors commonly observed in the commercial poultry industry, while simultaneously improving overall performance of the birds. XPC and Celmanax are both products derived from Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast. This current research was conducted to investigate the effects of supplementing XPC and Celmanax into the diets of broiler chickens subjected to stressors commonly observed in large poultry grow-out operations. In addition to XPC and Celmanax, Vega, an experimental postbiotic product utilizing essential oils and different yeast derived organisms, was included in the study. Experiments were conducted to see how the effects of stocking density and heat stress affected the efficacy of these compounds. A final experiment was conducted to see how a concentrated version of XPC affected production and stress susceptibility of broilers subjected to production stressors and acute stressors. The results of Chapter 2 suggest that Celmanax, has the ability to improve performance of broilers reared under high stocking density. The results also show that XPC can improve FCR in broilers reared under industry standard stocking density. The results of Chapter 3 determined that the postbiotic metabolites found in Celmanax and XPC can mitigate the effects of heat stress in broilers as a result of increased body weight and improved FCR. The study in chapter 4 determined that dietary inclusion of XPC can improve both broiler performance and welfare. These results were determined through decreased FCR, corticosterone production, and heterophil/lymphocyte ratio while also producing slightly increased body weight. In conclusion, the metabolites found in these postbiotic feed additives showed the ability to improve growth performance and welfare of broiler chickens subjected to potentially stressful rearing conditions.