Combined Effects of Dietary Carbohydrates and Preslaughter Flushing with Magnesium Sulfate on Cecal Coliform Colonization in Chicks

Abstract

Day-old broiler chicks were fed a corn-soybean meal based diet containing either 2% lactose or 0.05% mannanoligosaccharide (MOS) per kg of feed. Lactose-fed chicks at 7 and 14 d of age had significantly fewer cecal coliforms (log10 3.90 cfu/mL) than MOS-fed (log10 4.57 cfu/mL) and untreated control chicks (log10 5.88 cfu/mL). Chicks at 21 d of age were given magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) in the drinking water for 12 h prior to sacrifice. Chicks given MOS followed by MgSO4 in the drinking water had fewer cecal coliforms (cfu ML) than chicks in the remaining treatment groups. Compared to the other treatments, the combination of MOS and MgSO4 resulted in greater reduction in cecal bacterial population in pre-slaughter chicks at 21 d of age.