TITLE:
Impact of Dietary Lactobacillus plantarum Postbiotics on the Performance of Layer Hens under Heat Stress Conditions
AUTHORS:
Mohamad Farran, Bouchra El Masry, Zeinab Kaouk, Houssam Shaib
KEYWORDS:
Lactobacillus plantarum, Layers, Heat Stress, Postbiotic, Probiotics, Performance
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Veterinary Medicine,
Vol.14 No.3,
March
22,
2024
ABSTRACT: This experiment was conducted to determine the performance of heat-stressed layers fed a diet containing the probiotic Lactobacillus plantarum RS5 or its products of fermentation (postbiotics). Twenty-week-old Isa White layers, were subdivided into six treatments of 32 individually caged birds. Half of the birds were reared under regular temperature conditions, while the other half was subjected to cyclic daily heat stress. Layers were offered one of three diets: 1) Control; 2) Control + Lactobacillus plantarum RS5 probiotic; 3) Control + Lactobacillus plantarum RS5 postbiotics. Birds were tested for performance and visceral organ development for 5 months. Heat stress negatively affected the birds’ feed intake, egg weight, shell weight percentage, Haugh unit, shell thickness, yolk color, body weight and spleen weight percentage. Postbiotics significantly increased egg production (p