June 18, 2020

Lallemand: Probiotic strain shown to have positive effect on poultry dietary energy utilisation

 

A study published in Poultry Science (Mikulski et al., 2020) shows the positive effect of the probiotic strain Pediococcus acidilactici CNCM I-4622 (MA 18/5M)1 -- which is part of Lallemand Animal Nutrition's BACTOCELL feed additive -- on dietary energy utilisation in laying hens.

 

The study indicated that the probiotic was able to compensate for the effect of a 100kcal ME/kg of feed energy dilution on the laying performance. The authors suggested that the probiotic supplement exerts a positive influence on dietary energy utilisation, increasing the feed efficiency in laying hens.

 

With energy being a major driver of feed costs in poultry production, these new findings affirm a new tool for egg producers and nutritionists to manage gut health and laying performance while limiting the production cost, Lallemand said.

 

The study concluded that Pediococcus acidilactici CNCM I-4622 supplementation on a reduced-energy diet can be a viable strategy for lowering feed cost while maintaining laying performance and egg quality.

 

The study was conducted at Olzstyn University in Poland to determine the effect of the probiotic supplementation of diets with different energy levels on laying hens productive performance.

 

As a model, 100 kcal ME/kg of feed energy density reduction was tested. The experimental diets were formulated to contain respectively 2,550 and 2,650kcal ME/kg of feed and equal amounts of amino acids and minerals. The trial involved 200, 31-week-old Hy Line Brown hens and lasted for 16 weeks.

 

Despite a 100kcal ME/kg of feed difference, both groups displayed a similar laying rate, equivalent feed conversion rate and exported egg mass.

 

The concept of bioequivalence has been applied to evaluate the combined effect of the dietary energy dilution and the supplementation of P. acidilactici CNCM I-4622 on hens' productive performance.

 

Bioequivalence is defined by EFSA (2018) as follows: "…if two products are said to be bioequivalent, it means that they would be expected to be, for all relevant effects, the same." The bioequivalence concept applied to hens' performance criteria indicates that hens receiving P. acidilactici CNCM I-4622 with a reduced-energy diet show bioequivalent performance to hens from the standard energy diet without probiotic.

 

Additionally, eggs from the probiotic and reduced energy diet group showed similar eggshell thickness compared to eggs from the control and standard energy diet.

 

This suggests that the probiotic supplementation is able to somehow compensate for the effect of the energy dilution (-100kcal ME/kg of feed) on laying hens production performance.

Eventually, when comparing the effect of the probiotic with an equivalent diet (at the same energy level), it appears that hens fed the probiotic diet repeatedly provide better productive performance than hens without the probiotic (p<0.05).

 

These corroborate previous findings as the probiotic is supplemented on top of the diet and has shown beneficial and consistent effects on both the laying rate and the feed efficiency, Lallemand said.

 

- Lallemand