Date of Graduation

5-2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Poultry Science

Advisor/Mentor

Watkins, Susan

Committee Member/Reader

Anthony, Nicholas

Committee Member/Second Reader

Christensen, Karen

Abstract

Saccharomyces boulardii is a yeast that has been shown to have a probiotic effect on the gut health of humans, ruminants, and swine by helping to control intestinal homeostasis, preventing pathogens from colonizing, promoting beneficial enzyme production, and by other mechanisms. This trial is designed to test whether the addition of S. boulardii to the diet improves the enteric health of broilers. Forty-eight test pens each containing fifteen birds, a water line, and a hanging feed pan were set up in a commercial broiler house from day eighteen to day thirty-six of the flock. The pens were evenly divided into six treatments: one control, and five different application methods and amounts of yeast. During the trial, weights, gains, and feed consumption were measured at 18, 28, and 36 days. After the trial concluded, samples of the duodenum and ileum were taken for determination of villi length and crypt depth and to test for bacitracin resistant strains of bacteria. The results showed that with an alpha of 0.05 S. boulardii had no significant impact on production characteristics at any concentration, and had a small but significant negative effect on gut health

Keywords

Agriculture, Animal Culture and Nutrition||Agriculture, General

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