Effect of Synbiotic on Performance and Serum Biochemical Parameters of

 Rozbeh Fallah1, Sayed Sadra Ale Saheb Fosoul1*, Hasan Rezaei2 1-Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Iran 2- Department of Animal Science, Islamic Azad University, Ghaemshahr, Iran     * Corresponding author: [email protected]   Received: 20 September 2013 Accepted: 21 November 2013     Abstract   The present experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of synbiotic on performance and serum biochemical parameters of ostrich chicks. Forty eight day-old ostrich chicks were divided into 4 treatments with 4 replicates of 3 ostrich chicks in completely randomized design for 8 weeks. Dietary treatments included basal diet (control) and basal diet with 0.5, 1 and 1.5 g/kg synbiotic. Feed Intake (FI), body weight (BW) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were measured during the whole period of the experiment (0-8 wk of age).  Additionally, blood samples were taken at the end of the experiment and analyzed for serum biochemical parameters. The results showed that 1 g/kg synbiotic inclusion in the diet significantly improved BW and FCR of the chicks compared to control group (p<0.05). Furthermore, 1.5 g/kg synbiotic substantially increased blood glucose but decreased cholesterol (p<0.05). Serum total protein and uric acid also decreased in the all dietary levels of synbiotic compared to control group (p<0.05). Regarding these results, supplementation of 1 g/kg synbiotic appears to be effective on growth performance and serum biochemical parameters of ostrich chicks.