The Effect of Adding Germinated Date Kernel Powder to the Diet on Production Performance and Some Broilers E.coli Bacteria

Abstract

The research aims to study the effect of adding normal date kernel powder at a concentration of (10%) and comparing it with germinated date kernel powder at a concentration of (10 and 20%) instead of the whole diet of broilers and its effect on the productivity and some microbial traits in the intestine of birds. In this study, 180 unsexed one-day-old Ross chicks, with an initial weight of 42 g were used, prepared from the Al-Anwar hatchery, which is one of the private hatcheries in Babylon governorate for the period from (21/5/2020) to (24/6/2020ims). The chicks were reared in one of the hatchery halls divided into (pens) of 1.5 x 1.5 m, and the chicks were randomly distributed into four treatments with 3 replicates for each treatment, where the treatment included 45 chicks and each replicate 15 chicks. Accordingly, the treatments were distributed as follows; the first treatment (T₁) represents a control diet without a date kernel and the second treatment (T₂) refers to a control diet with the addition of 10% non-germinated normal date kernel powder. In addition, the third treatment T_3, and fourth treatment (T₄) represent a control diet with the addition of 10% and20% germinated date kernel powder respectively. The results included a highly significant response that occurred at the level (p≤0.05) to the treatments T₃, T₂, T₄, compared with the control treatment T₁ in the average total live body weight and the total weight gain, where treatment T₁ recorded the lowest average weight. All the treatments differed significantly at the level (p≤0.05) between them the ratio of feed intake, and the significant superiority was in favor of germination treatments T₃ and T₄. All treatments recorded a significant difference in the dressing percentage between them, but T₁, T_2, and T₃ were significantly superior to the rest of the treatments and were also significantly superior in live weight and carcass weight. On the other hand, it was observed only 3 birds in the treatment T₁ and 2 birds in the treatment T_2, and one in the treatment T₄, while there was no mortality observed in the treatment T₃. Finally, a significant decrease (p≤0.05) occurred in the number of harmful E.coli bacteria for the treatments T₂, T_3, and T₄ compared with the control treatment T₁, while these treatments were significantly increased (p≤0.05) in the number of beneficial lactobacilli bacteria, compared with the control treatment T₁.