The effect of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens on productive performance of laying hens

Abstract

This 6-weeks study was conducted to investigate the efficiency of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens as probiotic in laying hens. A total of 180 ISA brown laying hens (28-weeks-old) were randomly allocated into 90 cages (two hens per cage), and then assigned to three dietary treatments with 10 replicates per treatment (each replicate with three adjacent cages): (i) CON, basal diet (antibiotic-free); (ii) P1, CON +1.0 × 107 cfu/kg probiotic; (iii) P2, CON +2.0 × 107 cfu/kg probiotic. The probiotic was a commercial product. The Hen Day production was daily recorded. The egg quality parameters were measured by using egg multi-tester. The caecal contents and fresh excreta were collected for measuring the caecal microflora and excreta gas emission, respectively. All data were analysed using the GLM procedure of SAS. Differences among treatment means were determined using the Tukey’s range test. During 4–6 weeks, hens fed P1 and P2 diets had a greater (p