The effect of mannanoligosaccharides, bambermycins, and virginiamycin on performance of large white male market turkeys

A study was conducted to evaluate the effects of mannanoligosaccharides (MOS), bambermycins (BAM), and virginiamycin (VIR) on the growth performance of male turkeys. Hybrid Large White male poults were assigned to six dietary treatments: control, MOS, BAM, VIR, MOS+BAM (MB), and MOS+VIR (MV). All diets were formulated to meet NRC (1994) nutrient requirements. There were eight replicate floor pens per treatment with 20 birds per pen reared from 1 to 140 d. Body weight and feed conversion (FC) were collected at 3-wk intervals and at 20 wk of age. Mortality and culled birds were recorded daily. All treatments except MV significantly (P < 0.05) increased 20 wk BW. Body weight was increased at 12 wk by BAM, whereas VIR increased BW at Weeks 12 and 15. All treatments improved FC for Weeks 0 to 3, whereas VIR, MB, and MV improved FC for Weeks 0 to 12 and 0 to 18. There were no treatment effects on cumulative mortality or cull rate. Dietary supplemental MOS, BAM, and VIR resulted in improved growth performance of Large White turkeys. These results indicate that MOS may be utilized as an alternative to antibiotic growth promotants to improve turkey performance.