The effects of dietary stabilized rumen extract (SRE) and virginiamycine on performance and carcass yield of broilers

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of stabilized rumen extract (SRE) and virginiamycine added to the diets on body weight, feed consumption, feed conversion ratio and carcass characteristics of broilers. A total of 2400 daily old broilers Arbor Acres chicks were used in the experiment. There were five experimental groups each having 480 chicks. The experiment lasted six weeks. While control group was fed unsupplemented diets, the SRE was added to the diets of groups 1, 2 and 3 at the level of 0.15%, 0.20% and 0.25%, respectively. Virginiamycine was added to the diet of experimental group 4, at the level of 20 ppm. At the end of the experiment, the body weights of the control and experimental groups (1, 2, 3 and 4) were measured as 2013.86, 2065.51, 2169.67, 2110.47 and 2102.14 g respectively. The body weight and body weight gain values were highest for the second experimental group which was fed SRE at the level of 0.20% (P < 0.001). The fourth experiment group given virginiamycine tended to have the lowest feed consumption (3,592 kg) compared with the other groups and to consume less feed (1.75 kg) for 1 kg body weight gain than those of the other groups. It was concluded that. the addition of SRE at 0.20 % level increased the body weight and tended to improved the feed conversion of broilers.