Author(s)

Mohamad Farran^*, Bouchra El Masry, Zeinab Kaouk, Houssam Shaib

Department of Agriculture, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.

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 < 0.05) in comparison to the control and the probiotic fed group (94.8% vs 92.6% vs 93.1%, respectively). Birds under probiotic or postbiotic diet showed a significantly higher (p < 0.05) feed intake and egg weight, although the probiotic had a more pronounced and gradual effect. Specific gravity, yolk weight percentage and shell thickness didn’t show differences among dietary groups. The Haugh Unit was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in probiotic group which also showed a significantly lower yolk color index (p < 0.05). The different feed treatments did not impact the bird’s viscera weight percentage, except for the ileum that was significantly lower (p < 0.05) under postbiotic supplementation. Both probiotics and postbiotics could be used as a potential growth promoters and might alleviate heat stress impact in poultry industry.

Lactobacillus plantarum, Layers, Heat Stress, Postbiotic, Probiotics, Performance

Farran, M. , El Masry, B. , Kaouk, Z. and Shaib, H. (2024) Impact of Dietary Lactobacillus plantarum Postbiotics on the Performance of Layer Hens under Heat Stress Conditions. Open Journal of Veterinary Medicine, 14, 39-55. doi: 10.4236/ojvm.2024.143004.