author(s)
Raj Kumar, Nazim Ali, RA Siddique, DS Sahu, Ahmad Fahim, Rajbir Singh and Debashis Roy

abstract
A 42-day study was conducted to investigate the effect of mushroom powder (Agaricus bisporus) and probiotics (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) supplementation on carcass characteristics and breast meat quality in broiler chickens. 360 day-old broiler chicks were divided randomly into 8 dietary treatments with 3 replicates of 45 birds each in a completely randomized design. The experimental diets were designed as, T₁: control, T₂: 0.4% mushroom powder, T₃: 0.8% mushroom powder, T₄: 1.2% mushroom powder, T₅: 0.1% probiotics, T₆: 0.2% probiotics, T₇: 0.3% probiotics and T₈: 0.8% mushroom powder + 0.2% probiotics levels. The results showed that carcass parameters and prime cuts weights increased (p<0.01) in birds fed probiotic and mushroom diets compared to control diets. Dressed weight was significantly (P<0.01) higher for mushroom supplemented group T₄ compared to the control group. Eviscerated weight was significantly (P<0.01) higher in the mushroom supplemented group T8 compared to control group T1. The highest ready to cook yield percentage was observed in the combination of mushroom and probiotic supplemented group T8 compare to other groups. The highest abdominal fat was observed in the probiotics supplemented group (T₈) and the lowest noted in the control group. In conclusion, supplementation of mushroom powder and probiotics improved carcass traits, prime cut-parts and relative organ weights without any adverse effect on the blood parameters.