Effects of dietary supplementation of synbiotics on growth performance, intestinal morphology, sIgA content and antioxidant capacities of broilers

Today, several strategies are being used to decrease the serious effects of antibiotics abuse on broilers industry and public health, among which synbiotics are one of the most promising antibiotic alternative. This study was undertaken to assess the effects of synbiotics, which composed of probiotics (Bacillus subtilis) and prebiotics (xylooligosaccharide and mannanoligosaccharide), on growth performance, intestinal morphology, sIgA content and antioxidant parameters of broilers. Four hundred and fifty one-day-old commercial Cobb48 broilers were assigned to five treatments consisting of six replicates of 15 birds each pen. Five dietary treatments include basal diets (control), basal diets plus antibiotics (4mg/kg Xanthomycin), basal diets plus 1g of probiotics B.subtilis product/kg of diets (4x10(8)cfu/kg), basal diets plus 150mg/kg xylooligosaccharide (35%) and 1g/kg mannanoligosaccharide (75%), and basal diets plus synbiotics (1g of probiotics B.subtilis product/kg of diets (4x10(8)cfu/kg), 150mg/kg xylooligosaccharide (35%) and 1g/kg mannanoligosaccharide (75%). The results demonstrated that on 21 and 42days, dietary supplementation of the synbiotics significantly increased daily weight gain (p<0.05), feed efficiency (p<0.05), the villus height and villus:crypt ratio in the duodenum, jejunum and ileum (p<0.05), as well as intestinal mucosa sIgA content (p<0.05), serum T-SOD activity (p<0.05) and lysozyme content (p<0.05), comparing with control group. In conclusion, synbiotics (B.subtilis and xylooligosaccharide and mannanoligosaccharide) is one of the safe and ideal dietary supplementations to increase broilers' growth performance by improving small intestinal morphology, sIgA content and antioxidant capabilities.