EFFECT OF BEE POLLEN AND PROBIOTICS ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE, ORGANS, AND THIGH MEAT pH OF BROILER COBB 500

Abstract

Slightly more than one third of the global meat consumed comes from chickens. Various studies have been carried out on the use of bee pollen or probiotics in broiler feed; however, very limited studies have been carried out about their combined effect on broiler production. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of feeding by pollen and probiotics on broiler chicken Cobb 500. The effect of different concentrations of commercial bee pollen and probiotics was evaluated on growth performance, organs, and thigh meat pH of 45 days old chickens. The rate of body weight gain on day 21, 33, and 39 were significantly different among treatment and control groups and on day 33 d, all the experimental groups showed significant increase in weight gain as compared to control. T3 treatment had highest weight gain (380 g) on day 45. Some of the organs such as lung, digestive system, and intestine length were also significantly affected by the application of bee pollen and probiotics. The broilers fed with bee pollen and probiotics were found to have increased but more stable pH of thigh meat as compared to that of control at 24 hours of low temperature (-20°C) storage. At 24 h, T2 treatment showed highest pH value(6.52) for thigh meat Results of the present study indicated that the meat quality of broiler could be improved with the use of bee pollen and probiotics as they could increase and keep the pH stable during storage.