EN
The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of divercin, a bacteriocin produced by lactobacilli strain Carnobacterium divergens AS7, on the microflora status under in vitro conditions and on nutrient retention and nitrogen-corrected apparent metabolizable energy (AMEN ) of divercin in an in vivo trial on broiler chickens. Low (DL) 200 AU·ml1 (0.05% of the liquid divercin prepatation), and high (DH) 1600 AU·ml-1(0.4% of the liquid divercin prepatation) doses of divercin were used in both trials. In the in vitro trial divercin at concentration, 1600AU ml-1 of divercin had stronger antibacterial effects as compared with 200 AU·ml-1. In the crop and ileal digesta, the DH treatment was characterized by the lowest lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and coliform bacteria counts (0.4-0.8 log cycle reduction). There were no differences in nutrient retention between treatments. Salinomycin and divercin supplementation tended to increase fat digestibility and N retention. However, the highest AMEN were obtained in the DL treatment. The results of both studies show positive effects of divercin in terms of reduction of microbial populations isolated from the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of broiler chickens as well as improvement in AMEN. The presented data may suggest that bacteriocin derived from Carnobacterium divergens AS7 could play a role in controlling the microbial ecosystem in the broiler chicken GIT.