ABSTRACT

The poultry industry' has developed in several areas such as nutrition, genetics and management to maximizing the growth performance and meat yield (Gunal el al.. 2006). Amaefule (2002) reported that one of the major constraints has remained the exorbitant and ever increasing cost of commercial poultry feeds arising mainly from the cost of feedstuffs and ingredients especially the conventional ones like cereal grains and proteins. Presently. poultry industry has shifted attention towards addressing public concern for environmental and food safety. However, broilers have been discovered to be vulnerable to pathogenic micro-organisms such as Escherichia co/i, Sa/inonel/ci spp, C/osiridium per/ringes (Enuberg ci cii., 2001). These pathogenic microbial flora in the small intestine compete with the host for nutrients thereby reducing the digestion of fat and fat soluble vitamins as a result of de-conjugation of bile acids. (Ratchiff, 2000). Many additives have been used to supplement broiler feed in order to stabilize the intestinal microbial flora and improve the general broiler performance and prevent some specilic diseases (Gunal ci al.. 2006). The use of antibiotics in broiler feed has been banned in many developed countries due to their residual effect in animal products (Butaye ci cii.. 2003). The usefulness of antibiotics used in poultry has often been contested because of their similarity with those antibiotics used in man and the fear that their continued use may bring about resistant bacteria in poultry (Philips, 1993). To this effect, the feed manufactures and poultry farmers have been looking for effective alternative to antibiotics growth prometers.