Effects of crude oligosaccharide extract from agricultural by-products on the performance and gut development of broilers

Objective This study aimed to determine the effect of crude oligosaccharide extract from coconut milk meal (CMM) and spent tea leaves (ST) on the performance and gut development of broiler chickens. Methods A total of 240 one-day-old unsexed broiler chicks (ROSS 308) were raised on litter-floored pens and had ad libitum access to water for 42 days. The experiment was conducted on chicks fed with basal diet (CON), commercial mannan-oligosaccharides (MOS), crude oligosaccharide extract from CMM, and crude oligosaccharide extract from ST. The experimental diets were supplemented with 2 and 1 g/kg oligosaccharides during the starter and grower periods, respectively. Results The body weight gain (BWG) of birds in the MOS group was higher than that of birds in the other groups (p0.05). The digestibility of gross energy was greater (p0.05). Conclusion The improvements in the growth performance were partly driven by nutrient digestibility of such oligosaccharides having prebiotic properties. This result can indicate that supplementing broiler diets with crude oligosaccharides from CMM and ST had no negative effect on the growth performance and gut development of broilers

Symbiotic Behavior during Co-culturing of Clostridium thermocellum NKP-2 and Thermoanaerobacterium thermosaccharolyticum NOI-1 on Corn Hull

The symbiosis of co-culturing between Clostridium thermocellum NKP-2 and Thermoanaerobacterium thermosaccharolyticum NOI-1 is described. An efficient biomass-degrading enriched culture was isolated from soil that contained two different bacterial strains showing homology to C. thermocellum and T. thermosaccharolyticum. The enzymatic system produced from the isolated strains when cultivated individually on corn hulls demonstrated different cellulolytic and xylanolytic enzyme activities. Strain NKP-2 produced cellulose- and xylan-main chain cleaving enzymes such as carboxymethylcellulase (CMCase), avicelase, and xylanase as major enzymes, whereas strain NOI-1 produced primarily short- and side-chain cleaving enzymes such as cellobiohydrolase, β-glucosidase, β-xylosidase, acetyl esterase, and especially α-L-arabinofuranosidase. Enhancement of corn hull utilization, cell growth, and fermentation products (ethanol, butanol, acetic acid, butyric acid, H2, and CO2) was greatly increased during co-culturing compared with individual cultivation of both strains. The symbiotic behavior between both strains was one of mutualism, in which the synergistic degradation of corn hulls by co-action of cellulolytic and xylanolytic enzymes promoted hydrolysis of biomass for growth and fermented products