Table 1.

Effect of L. johnsonii on growth performance and carcass traits of CP-induced chickens¹

Item2	Control	CP	L-LJ	H-LJ	Pooled SE	P-value
Initial weight, g	41.5	41.7	42.0	41.9	0.38	0.951
Final weight, g	2512.7a	2214.1c	2307.8bc	2399.8b	28.81	<0.001
DWG, g.d−1	58.8a	51.7c	53.9bc	56.1b	0.68	<0.001
FI, g	4410.7	4297.5	4363.2	4382.9	19.58	0.212
FCR	1.78c	1.97a	1.93a	1.86b	0.02	0.002
Survival rate, %	96.52	94.12	95.20	95.08	0.32	0.053
Abdominal fat, %3	1.21a	1.12b	1.18a	1.17a	0.01	0.005
Breast, %3	7.45a	6.72c	7.01b	7.07b	0.05	<0.001
Thigh, %3	9.26a	8.69c	8.99b	9.04b	0.04	<0.001

^a,b Means in the same row with different superscripts are significantly different. (P < 0.05)

¹control = basal diet + PBS; CP = basal diet + CP administration; L-LJ = basal diet with 1.0 × 10⁵ cfu BS15/g diet + CP administration; H-LJ = basal diet with 1.0 × 10⁶ cfu BS15/g diet + CP administration. Pen (n = 6 per treatment group) was used as the experimental unit for initial weight, final weight, DWG, FI, FCR and survival rate. An individual bird (n = 12 per treatment group) was used as the experimental unit for abdominal fat, breast and thigh percentages

² DWG daily weight gain, FI feed intake, FCR feed conversion ratio (FI/body weight gain)

³% = percentage of 42-day body weight