Effect of Hemicell on Broiler Mortality

An experiment was conducted at Southern Poultry Research in Athens, GA, where broilers were uniformly challenged with Coccidial and Clostridia pathogens in the presence or absence of Hemicell^® and medications. Results are given in Table 1. These results demonstrate that Hemicell^® significantly improved mortality, gain and feed conversion. Under disease challenge conditions the presence of the β-Mannan fiber is especially harmful.

Table 1 – Effect of Hemicell^® on Performance of Broilers Challenged with Coccidiosis and Necrotic Enteritis
Infection¹	Medication²	Hemicell^®	Gain 8-21 days (g)	F/G³ 8-21 days	Mortality 8-21 days (%)
Yes	No	No	258.1^b	2.448^a	42.71^a
Yes	No	Yes	324.4^a	2.063^b	20.83^b
Yes	Yes	No	345.6^a	1.866^b	5.21^b

Notes: 1: Birds challenged at 8 days of age with 75,000 E. acervulina and 5,000
E. maxima oocysts per bird and at 11, 12, and 13 days with 108 cfu C. perfringens,
all by oral gavage. 2: BMD, 50 g/ton and Sacox, 60g/ton. 3: Adjusted for mortality.

The above research trial was conducted under severe disease stress in order to accentuate the impact of Hemicell^® on mortality. The positive benefit of Hemicell^® on mortality is also demonstrated in the field trials that have been conducted. In 7 of 8 such field trials, mortality was improved, yielding an average improvement of 0.68% under commercial growing conditions. Please see Table 2 below.

Table 2 – Summary of Results of Field Tests of Hemicell^® in Broilers
Field Test	Number of Birds	Number of Farms	Improvement in Live Performance
Field Test	Number of Birds	Number of Farms	Weight (lbs.)	Feed Conversion	Wt.-adj. Feed Conversion²	Livability (%)
1	480,000	10	0.074	0.031	0.043	0.37 %
2	5,100,000	126	0.016	0.040	0.043	0.85 %
3	20,000,000	550	0.174	0.029	0.058	0.31 %
4	14,000,000	360	0.136	0.060	0.083	0.26 %
5	1,400,000	75	0.086	0.061	0.075	2.33 %
6	2,000,000	79	0.080	0.018	0.031	0.0 %
7	5,520,000	184	0.065	0.032	0.043	0.2 %
8¹	10,000,000	252	-0.050	0.030	0.022	1.11 %

Notes: (1) In field trial #8, the birds grown on feed containing Hemicell^® were 0.28 days younger
than the birds grown on control feeds; (2) 6 points of weight difference = 1 point feed conversion