A coccidiostat can be replaced by or combined with a blend of direct fed microbials and xylanase in broiler production

The poultry industry continues to seek effective alternatives to coccidiostats that promote health and performance without compromising economic viability or result in antibiotic resistance. This study was designed to investigate the effect of a multi-strain Bacillus spp. probiotic in the presence of xylanase (DFM), and a monensin coccidiostat in a 2 × 2 factorial dietary treatment arrangement testing 2 levels of DFM (0 and 100 g/MT), and 2 levels of monensin (0 and 90 g/MT) on growth performance, gut lesions, environmental Clostridium perfringens load, and digesta pathogens load of broiler chickens (E. tenella, Salmonella spp., total aerobic count cells (APC), E. coli, and C. perfringens) with 10 replicate pens per treatment and 52 birds per replicate. Data were analyzed as two-way ANOVA. Results indicated that both DFM and monensin significantly improved body weight gain (P = 0.01, P = 0.0002, respectively), while monensin improved feed conversion ratio by 3 points (P = 0.01) by day 42. Lesion scores were lower in birds supplemented with the combination of DFM and monensin at both 21 d (P = 0.003) and 42 d (P = 0.007) compared to non-supplemented birds. Monensin reduced (P = 0.01) litter moisture by approximately 1% compared to non-supplemented diets. Pathogens load in digesta were suppressed further by the combination of DFM and monensin at 21 d for APC (P = 0.002), and 42 d for E. coli (P = 0.01), C. perfringens (P = 0.0003), E. tenella (P = 0.05), and Salmonella spp. incidence (P = 0.03). These findings suggest that DFM can be used as an alternative to monensin, or as part of a bio-shuttle program with monensin, for improving broiler performance, gut health, and environmental microbial safety.