Fermented feed for chickens

[Perris]

I just didn’t understand the set up.
Giving other feed and increasing the amount of feed makes the results of the research more difficult to interpret.

They didn't give *more* feed. See Table 1
Table 1. Ingredients and nutrient composition of the diets.

Items (%, unless otherwise indicated)	Control	Fermented feed
Ingredient
Corn (8.7% CP)	63.43	59.75
Soybean meal (47.9% CP)	26.50	24.00
Wheat bran	4.00	2.75
Limestone	1.20	1.15
Calcium hydrogen phosphate	1.30	1.30
D,L-Met (98%)	0.15	0.14
L-Lys (98%)	0.12	0.11
Sodium chloride	0.30	0.30
Fishmeal (64.5% CP)	2.00	2.00
Premix1	1.00	1.00
Lactic acid bacteria fermented feed	0.00	7.50
Total	100.00	100.00
Nutrient level2
ME (Mcal/kg)	2.85	2.86
CP	19.03	19.09
Calcium	0.92	0.93
Nonphytate phosphorus	0.41	0.40
Lys	0.97	0.98
Met	0.36	0.35

 

[BDutch]

They didn't give *more* feed.

So supplemented doesn’t always means extra? It can mean substituted too.

 

[Perris]

Here are some of the conclusions of the study, for convenience:

"Our results indicated that the addition of fermented feed to the diet significantly improved the cellular immunity of laying hen chicks... The fermented feed supplementation also enhanced the humoral immunity of laying hen chicks... we observed that dietary fermented feed supplementation improved the humoral immune status of laying hen chicks by increasing their serum levels of IgG, IgA, and IgM... In the present study, in addition to measuring the systemic humoral immune status, we determined the immune response capacity to a specific antigen, NDV. Newcastle disease is a highly contagious and widespread global disease in poultry that causes severe economic losses every year (Alexander, 2000). Our data show that fermented feed supplementation significantly increased the serum NDV antibody titer, which indicates that the birds fed fermented feed had a stronger immune response to NDV than did birds of the control group... In conclusion, our results indicate that fermented feed improves growth performance, immune function, and antioxidant capacity in laying hen chicks. The roles of fermented feed in modulating T-cell proliferation, Th1 and Th2 cytokine production, and antioxidation are associated with NF-κB activation."

For anyone whose birds are at risk of catching Newcastle Disease, at least, I'd say that's quite important.