Abstract

ARCE MENOCAL, José; AVILA GONZALEZ, Ernesto  and  LOPEZ COELLO, Carlos. Performance parameters and morphological changes in intestinal villi of broilers at 21 days of age by the inclusion of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell walls. Vet. Méx [online]. 2008, vol.39, n.2, pp.223-228. ISSN 0301-5092.

A research study was conducted to evaluate the effect of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell walls (ScCw) at 500 g/t and avilamycin as a growth promoter antibiotic(GPA), at 10 ppm, in sorghum + soybean meal diets for broiler chicks, on live production performance at 21 days of age, as well as on length, width, number and area of intestinal villi at 10 and 21 days. A total of 200 one-day-old broiler chicks were allocated in batteries and distributed in a completely randomized design, consisting of a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement with five repetitions of 10 birds each one. The factors were the presence and absence of ScCw and GPA for the productive variables. The intestinal villi data were analyzed as a completely randomized design with repeated measurements at ten or 21 days of age. Results of productive variables showed differences (P < 0.05) in body weight (660 vs 683 g) and feed conversion (1.47 vs 1.41 g/g), in favor of birds that consumed the diet with GPA. The addition of ScCw improved (P < 0.05) body weight (662 vs 681 g). The greater the age of birds (21 vs 10 days), the greater (P < 0.05) the width (264 vs 398 µ), number (41.7 vs 45.2 n) and area (26.2 vs 44.5 10³ µ,²) of intestinal villi; the effect of ScCw was manifested at 21 days with a larger area of villi. This partly explains the beneficial effect of these natural products on broiler production.

Keywords : Cell Walls; Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Productive Parameter; Intestinal Villi; Broiler.