Effects of prepelleting whole corn inclusion on broiler performance, intestinal microbiota, and carcass characteristics

Summary: This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of whole corn inclusion before pelleting on performance, processing yield, and microbiome modulation of broilers from 1 to 42 d of age. One thousand male Ross 708 broilers were randomly distributed among 4 treatments, with 10 replicate pens per treatment and 25 broilers per pen. Treatments consisted of 4 levels of whole corn (0, 2.5, 5.0, and 7.5%) replacing ground corn. Feed intake and BW were determined at 14, 28, and 42 d, and feed conversion ratio (FCR) was calculated by considering the weight of the mortality. At 42 d, ileal and cecal contents were analyzed to determine intestinal microbiota. At 43 d, 10 birds per pen were processed for yield determination. Data were evaluated using the ANOVA procedure (PROC GLM), and means were separated using Tukey's honestly significant difference procedure. Inclusion of whole corn did not influence BW and feed intake (P > 0.05) until 42 d of age. However, broilers consuming diets with 2.5, 5.0, and 7.5% whole corn had lower FCR from 28 to 42 d of age (1.93, 1.95, and 1.94 vs. 2.00, P < 0.05) than in broilers fed with diets containing 0% whole corn. Broilers fed with diets containing 5% whole corn had higher breast meat yield (29.11 vs. 28.40%, P < 0.05) than broilers fed with 7.5% whole corn, but yields were similar to broilers fed with diets without whole corn. Diets with 7.5% whole corn showed a trend toward increased Faecalibacterium (P = 0.07) and decreased Lactobacillus (P = 0.08) in cecal microbiota compared with diets with 5% whole corn. The results of this experiment indicated that up to 5% whole corn can replace ground corn in broiler diets from 1 to 42 d.