Three hundred and twenty day old co

Three hundred and twenty day old commercial broiler
chickens (Ross), were weighed and distributed randomly
into two groups of 160 chickens. Subsequently, the chickens
in each group were distributed to 20 replicates of eight
chickens and raised on wood shavings litter.
The chickens were allowed to have free access to a
starter diet during the first 3 wks and then to a finisher diet
during the second 3 wks (Table 1) and free access to water.
The control group was fed a basal diet, whereas the
experimental group was fed the same basal diet but
supplemented with probiotic provide 100 mg per kg diet.
The probiotic used in the experiment contained similar
proportion of six strains of variable organisms namely
Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei,
Bifidobacterium bifidum,Aspergillus oryzae,Streptococcus
faecium andTorulopsis sps. The room temperature with
continuous lighting was maintained at 34°C initially, and
then reduced by 3°C/wk until it reached 21°C, at which
temperature the room was maintained for the rest of the
feeding period. Body weight gain and feed consumption
were monitored weekly and feed conversion rate was
calculated as feed consumed per unit of weight gain.
At the end of the sixth week, 40 chickens from each