Effects of fermented soybean meal and dietary protein level on performance and gasterointestinal microbial population in broiler chickens

Document Type : Research Paper

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Abstract

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of Aspergillus oryzae fermented soybean meal and dietary protein level on performance and gasterointestinal microbial population in broiler chickens in a completely randomized design with 2×2 factorial arrangement containing, 2 forms of soybean meal (raw and fermented) and 2 levels of protein (Low and High protein). Two hundred and forty Ross 308 broilers were allocated to 4 experimental treatments with 5 replicates of 12 chickens each. The results showed thatreplacing fermented soybean meal with soybean meal in diet decreased to feed intake(P<0.05)but had no significant effect on weight gain of broilers in finisher rearing period (P>0.05). Abdominal fat percentage was significantly higher in low protein diet than high protein diet (P<0.05)Lactic acid bacteria population in crop of broilers fed diet containing fermented soybean meal was significantly higher than that of broilers fed diet containing soybean meal(P<0.05). The results of this experiment showed that complete replacement of fermented soybean meal to raw soybean meal in diet without significant negative impact on growth performance led to improve the balance of gastrointestinal microbial population in broiler chickens.

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