1. Direct-fed microbial addition in Guinea fowl (Numida meleagris) diets: effects on performance and health responses in northern Ghana
BY SARFO K. GOODMAN

2. Outline of Presentation
INTRODUCTION
Materials and Methods
Results and Discussion
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

3. Introduction
Antibiotics have been used in animal feed for the therapeutic treatment of clinically sick animals, for disease prophylaxis and for promotion of growth and feed efficiency (McEwen, 2002).

4. The injudicious and persistent sub therapeutic antibiotics addition in poultry feed has become undesirable due to their residues in meat products and development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria population in animals and humans.

5. The use of probiotics may provide an alternative to the administration of sub-therapeutic levels of antibiotics (O’Dea et al., 2007).
Probiotic is a live organism that serves as a natural feed supplement which does not develop resistivity like antibiotics (Hargis, 2008)

6. OBJECTIVES
1. To evaluate the effect of different regimes of administration of Rumen Enhancer 3 (RE3) on growth performance and health status of guinea keets.
2. Estimate the cost associated with administering DFM in guinea keets production.

7. Materials and Methods

8. Experimental Animals and Design
One hundred and eighty (180) day-old unsexed guinea keets were randomly allotted to 4 treatment groups in a completely randomized design.
Each treatment, consisting of 45 birds, was replicated three times with 15 birds per replicate for eight weeks.

9. TREATMENTS Four (4) frequency regimes which included: control, daily,
3 consecutive days per week (CDW) and
7-days repeated every other week (DREOW) of DFM at 1.5ml/L through water

10. HOUSING
Guinea keets (n = 15, per replicate) were kept in an improvised card boxes measuring 1.2 × 0.6 (m2) with 0.6m height.

11. Experimental diet and water
The basal diet was formulated to be iso-caloric and iso-nitrogenous at 12.13MJ/kg of ME and 24% CP respectively

12. Table 1: COMPOSITION OF EXPERIMENTAL DIET FOR GUINEA KEETS (1-8WEEKS)
FEED INGREDIENT (g/kg)
PERCENTAGE INCLUSION
Maize
440
Fishmeal
150
Soybean
Wheat bran
230
Dicalcium phosphate 1
Vitamin premix
Salt
Oyster shell
270
Calculated
Crode Protein
240
Crude Fibre
420
Metabolizable Energy
2900

13. CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
The laboratory studies were conducted at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Hospital and the Spanish Laboratory of the University for Development Studies for the blood parameters and proximate analysis respectively.

14. Data collection and statistical analysis
Parameters measured included feed intake, water intake, body weight gain, feed conversion ratio, mortality, hematological and serum biochemistry data. The data obtained were analyzed using GLM procedure of SAS 9.3 (SAS Institute Inc., 2014) at 5% significant level. Duncan's multiple range tests was used to compare the means.

15. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

16. Table 2: Analyzed chemical composition of compounded diet
Nutrient
g/kg
Chemical Composition
Crude Protein
218.00
Ether Extract
38.00
Ash
62.50
Moisture
52.50
Crude fibre
75.00
Metabolisable energy (kcal/Kg)
3025

17. Table 3: Growth performance as affected by Antibiotics and DFM in guinea keets (DAY 1-8WEEKS)
Parameter
Treatmentb
Control
Daily
3CDW
7DREOW
SEM
P-Value
IBW/bird (g)
28.3
28.7
28.8
28.9
0.2
0.139
ADFI/bird (g)
33.4
31.4
32.6
4.5
0.864
ADG/bird (g)
5.5
7.0
6.0
5.3
0.8
0.435
FBW/bird (g)
374.4b
438.5a
387.8b
365.8b
16.0
0.033
TWI/bird (ml)
707.1
879.0
731.1
747.1
70.1
0.310
FCR
6.5ab
4.1b
5.8ab
8.7az
1.1
0.040
Mortality (%)
3.6
1.4
2.8
2.5
0.9
0.433
Similar to previous studies of Kabir et al., (2004) and Habibi et al., (2013), both researchers reported higher weight gains when probiotics were fed to birds.
a-c, Means in a row followed by different subscripts differ significantly (P < 0.05). IBW= initial body weight, ADFI= average daily feed intake, ADG= average daily gain, FBW= final body weight, TWI=total water intake, FCR= feed conversion ratio , SEM= Standard Error of the Means, P-Value= Probability Value

19. Table 4: Effect of DFM and Antibiotics treatments on mortality of guinea fowl keets (1-8weeks)
Treatmenta
Total
Control
Daily
3CDW
7DREOW 1 2 4 6 3 5 9 7 8 13 10 38
Percentage mortality
28.9
11.1
22.2
21.1

20. Table 5. HAEMATOLOGICAL INDICES OF INDIGENOUS GUINEA KEETS UP TO 8WEEKS
Parameter
Treatmenta
Control
Daily
3CDW
7DREOW
SEM
P-Value
Hematocrit (%)
41.49
43.67
38.31
41.44
1.87
0.315
Haemoglobin (g/dl)
14.43
14.90
13.42
14.97
0.47
0.152
Red blood cells x1012/L
2.33
2.38
2.18
0.06
0.186
White blood cells x109/L
314.56
315.67
312.22
317.44
3.34
0.739
Mean Cell volume (fL)
168.67
169.78
170.33
166.67
1.43
0.342
Mean Cell Haemoglobin (pg)
62.20
62.98
61.07
64.69
1.83
0.583
Mean cell Haemoglobin Concentration (g/dL)
36.81
37.04
35.60
38.64
0.88
0.191

21. Table 6. SERUM BIOCHEMICAL INDICES OF INDIGENOUS GUINEA KEETS UP TO 8WEEKS
Parameter
Treatmenta
Control
Daily
3CDW
7DREOW
SEM
P Value
Albumin (g/l)
15.62
17.00
16.32
16.40
0.10
0.809
Globulin (g/l)
17.89
22.73
21.83
20.32
1.65
0.251
Total protein (g/l)
33.48
39.75
38.18
36.72
2.46
0.376
Total cholesterol (mmol/l)
3.92
4.85
4.81
4.78
0.26
0.104
HDL cholesterol(mmol/l)
1.89
2.22
2.27
2.29
0.27
0.692
Coronary risk(ratio)
2.90
3.01
2.93
3.18
0.38
0.953
LDL cholesterol(mmol/l)
1.56
2.02
1.87
0.25
0.628
Triglycerides(mmol/l)
1.04
1.31
1.41
1.37
0.15
0.387

22. Table 7: Cost- Benefits Assessment for guinea keets
Description
Treatmenta
Control
Daily
3CDW
7DREOW
Total feed intake/bird(1-8weeks) kg
1.87
1.75
1.76
1.82
Feed Cost/kg (Gh¢)
1.15
Total feed cost (GH¢)
2.15
2.01
2.02
2.09
Cost of Drug(s)
0.81
0.00
Quantity of DFM used(ml)
28.68
7.98
7.64
Cost of DFM/ml (GH¢)
0.02
Total Cost of Medication/DFM (GH¢)
0.57
0.16
0.15
Overall Total Cost (GH¢)
2.96
2.59
2.18
2.25
Overall Total Cost ($)
0.93
0.68
0.70
Selling Price/kg
14.00
Final weight/kg
0.37
0.44
0.39
Total income/bird
5.18
6.16
5.46
Profit(GH¢)
2.22
3.57
3.28
2.93

23. CONCLUSIONS
Administering DFM (RE3) through water could reduce feed intake/bird and improves feed conversion ratio.
DFM (RE3®) should be supplemented on regular basis because the one week supplementation with a one week break did not give a good growth performance.

24. DFM (RE3®) can replace coccidiostat and dewormer for eight weeks on a good litter in an intensive brooding.

25. RECOMMENDATIONS
There is the need to conduct a research on different levels of DFM (RE3) in guinea keets to access the least and best inclusion level for the guinea savanna ecological zone as the manufacturer’s recommendation of 1.5ml/liter might differ with the environmental conditions.

26. Future examination of large bird population is recommended as well as immune competence from the spleen, Thymus and bursa Fibriosis for evidence of increased immune competence in probiotic administered birds.