Effects of Yeast Culture on Growth Performance,Meat Quality and Intestinal Microflora of Broilers

The experiment was conducted to study the effects of yeast culture on growth performance, meat quality and intestinal microflora of broilers. A total of 432 1-day-old AA commercial broiler chicks with initial body weight of (41.73±0.15)g were randomly divided into 4 groups with 6 replicates per group and 18 broilers per replicate,receiving diets supplemented with 0,0.1%,0.2% and 0.3% yeast culture, respectively. The trial lasted for 42 days which was divided into two periods with 1 to 21 d and 22 to 42 d,respectively.The feed intake,body weight,death and culling rate were recorded in each period. At the end of the experiment,1 chickens in each replicate with the weight close to the average value were slaughtered after fasting for 12 h. The slaughter performance and intestinal microflora counts were determined.The results showed that compared with control group,the supplementation of 0.2% and 0.3% yeast culture significantly increased the body weight at 42 d and the average daily gain (ADG) during the whole trial (P< 0.05).The diet supplemented with 0.2% yeast culture significantly improved the ADG,decreased the F/G of broilers during 22 to 42 d (P< 0.05),and it also significantly increased the average daily feed intake (ADFI) and ADG (P< 0.05),decreased the F/G of the whole period (P< 0.05).Moreover,the supplementation of 0.2% yeast culture significantly decreased the drip loss of meat and the count of Escherichia coli (P< 0.05),and significantly increased the count of Bifidobacterium(P< 0.05). In summary, the supplementation of 0.2% yeast culture could significantly improve the growth performance and the muscle quality of broilers.The intestinal microflora in broiler cecum were effectively optimized after inclusion of yeast culture in the study.