PROBIOTICS AS AN IMMUNE ENHANCER IN BROILERS

Present study was carried out at MS poultry farm Baffa, Mansehra during 2006. The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of different levels of probiotics named as Organic Green Culture on the immune response of broiler chicks, using Newcastle Disease Haemagglutination Inhibation (HI) antibody titer as indicator. For this purpose, 448 Hubbard day-old broiler chicks were randomly divided into four groups viz. A, B, C and D. Each group comprised 4 sub groups of 28 chicks each. Four experimental rations, I (control), II, III and IV containing probiotic at 0, 1, 2 and 4 g/kg ration were randomly allotted to these groups. The experiment lasted for 42 days. The mean Hemagglutinin Inhibition (HI) antibody titer values were 2.37, 2.25, 2.25 and 2.12, for groups A, B, C and D, respectively at day 1st. A non significant (P 0.05) difference was observed among all the groups. At day 10th the mean HI antibody titer was 3.18, 3.25, 3.93 and 3.56 for groups A, B, C and D, respectively. Groups C and D showed significantly (P 0.001) high HI antibody titer values than groups A and B. For day 20th the mean HI antibody titer values were 5.25, 5.43, 8.00 and 7.62 for groups A, B, C and D, respectively. There was significant (P 0.001) difference among groups A, B, C and D. Groups C and D was significantly (P 0.001) higher in HI values than groups A and B. On day 35th the mean HI antibody titer was 7.31, 7.62, 9.81 and 10.00 for groups A, B, C and D, respectively. The groups C and D presented significantly (P 0.001) higher HI antibody titer values than groups C and D. It was concluded that Probiotics addition @ 2 g/kg rations successfully improved the immune status of broiler chicks