Evaluation of a probiotic mixture on laying hens feeding in a commercial farm

Abstract

In order to evaluate the effect of including, in the diet of laying hens, a probiotic mixture (biopreparation) based
on the strains Lactobacillus salivarius C
65 and Bacillus subtilis E44, a study was conducted at the “Baró
Chiquito” laying hen farm of the Limonar municipality, Matanzas, between June and July, 2011. The design was
completely randomized and two treatments were evaluated: T1) basal diet (control) and T2) basal diet plus the
mixture of biopreparations, in a 1:1 ratio. A total of 2 078 L33 laying hens were used, with an age between 40 and
48 weeks (1 039 fowls per treatment), which were housed in metallic cages and received water and feed based
on corn-soybean. The eggs were collected every day and the total number of egg-layings and eggs per hen per
week, feed intake and conversion into eggs per kilogram of feed consumed were determined. The animals that
received the probiotic mixture had higher production throughout the period, except in week 40, in which no
differences were shown among treatments. There were differences (P<0,05) in the laying percentage, favoring
the treatment with the probiotic mixture, and also regarding the variation of the egg number per hen per week
(P<0,01). It is concluded that it is