Effect of dietary mannan oligosaccharide on broiler breeder production traits and immunity

The effects of mannan oligosaccharide (MOS) supplementation in broiler breeder diets on egg production, hatchability, fertility, and immunity were examined by randomly allocating 60-wk-old breeders to eight replicates (four replicates of two diet treatments) in a cage trial, and 42-wk-old broiler breeders to 12 replicates (six replicates of two dietary treatments) in a deep litter trial. Breeders were fed corn-soybean meal based diets with (MOS group) or without MOS or antibiotics (control group). Egg production, hatchability, and related parameters were measured for 8 and 12 wk in the cage trial and deep litter trial, respectively. In the cage trial, semen quality traits and antibody responses were recorded after 6 wk of supplementation. Antibody responses in the parents and progeny were measured after 4 wk of supplementation in the deep litter trial. Dietary MOS had no consistent influence on egg production in either trial. In the cage trial, higher (P < or = 0.05) hatchability, concomitant with consistently lower infertile and dead-in-shells (DIS), was evident in the MOS group. Furthermore, sperm density increased in the MOS group. Conversely, no difference was observed in terms of proportion of live sperm. In the deep litter trial hatchability on total eggs set and DIS were not affected by MOS inclusion in the diet, but hatchability on fertile eggs set and fertility was higher (P < or = 0.05) in the MOS group during the second, third, and fourth periods. Antibody responses against infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) were higher (P < or = 0.05) in the MOS group in both trials. Maternal antibody titers in progeny were also influenced (P < or = 0.05) by MOS supplementation. These data show that supplemental MOS improved sperm density, antibody titers, and all the production traits excluding egg production in the broiler breeders.