PSXII-12 Preliminary Study: Effects of hen dietary saccharomyces yeast postbiotic supplementation on progeny growth performance, body morphometrics, and carcass cutout and yield.

Abstract The objective of this study was to evaluate maternal dietary saccharomyces yeast postbiotic supplementation on progeny growth performance and cutout weights and yields. Two 10,000-hen Ross 708 broiler breeder houses were supplemented with 0 (CON) or 175 ppm/ton saccharomyces yeast postbiotic (SYP) for three weeks. Over two consecutive days, 360 eggs per house were collected and shipped to the Southern Poultry Research Group for incubation and rearing. At hatching, 500 male chicks (250 chicks/treatment) were placed in 20 pens (25 birds/pen; 10 pens/treatment) with ad libitum access to feed and water. At hatch, d 15 and 40, pens were weighed, and two median weight birds per pen were euthanized to collect pectoralis major (PM) morphometric measurements. On day 41, birds (N=354; n=176 CON and 178 SYP) were weighed, fasted overnight, and on day 42, transported to the University of Georgia Poultry Science Processing facility for harvesting and processing. There were no Treatment effects on d 0-15, 0-27, or 0-40 body weight gain, feed intake, adjusted and non-adjusted feed conversion ratio (P>0.20), except SYP progeny tended to have greater intake (P=0.08) during d 0-15. At hatch and d 40, there were no Treatment effects on PM morphometrics (P>0.24). On d 15, SYP progeny tended to have greater (P=0.13) PM weight and had greater (P=0.05) PM yield. Additionally, SYP progeny PM had greater (P=0.03) PM width, and tended to have greater PM length and depth (P=0.09). There were no Treatment effects on live and cold carcass weights, rack, breast, thigh, leg, and whole wing weights (P>0.17). There were also no Treatment effects on breast, leg, whole wing, and cut loss yields (P>0.18). Carcasses from progeny of SYP hens had greater tender weight and dressing percentage and had smaller thigh yields (P< 0.05) than CON progeny. Carcasses from progeny of SYP hens tended to have greater rack and tender yields (P< 0.09) than CON progeny. Results indicate hen SYP supplementation may have altered chick embryonic development to affect early PM muscle growth and produce carcasses with greater tender weight and yields, which resulted in greater dressing percentage.