Abstract

The current research aimed to study the effects of the fermented canola meal (Lactobacillus) diet on productive performance, blood parameters, and gut health of broiler chickens under high ambient temperature conditions. A total number of 320 (Ross-308) one-day-old broiler chickens were allocated randomly into four experimental groups for 42 days. Four experimental groups with four types of diet, including the control group (CON) received basal diet, and three other experimental groups were supplemented with 20% of the canola meal (CM), 20% fermented canola meal (FCM), and 20% canola meal with probiotic (PCM). The chickens that fed FCM presented improvement in live body weight, feed conversion ratio, and higher nutrient digestibility, compared to CM and PCM groups. Serum glucose, total protein, albumin, and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) of levels of chickens fed by FCM were higher than chickens fed CM and PCM, while there was a decrease in cholesterol. Fermented canola meal resulted in some noticeable beneficial changes in the cecum microflora communities through increasing the population of Lactobacillus spp. and decreasing the Escherichia coli and improved its morphology by increasing villus height. The results indicated that the fermentation of canola meal has enhanced performance, nutrient digestibility, and gut health, which allow using greater amounts of fermented canola meal as a replacement of soybeans meal in the broiler diet.