Meta-analysis of mannanoligosaccharides as an alternative to antibiotics on the performance of broiler chickens

• Grant number: 19/22693-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: December 01, 2019
• End date: July 31, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Animal Nutrition and Feeding
• Principal Investigator: Gustavo Do Valle Polycarpo
• Grantee: Fernanda da Silva Costa Braga
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Tecnológicas. Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Dracena. Dracena , SP, Brazil

Abstract

In recent years, many alternatives to antimicrobial growth promoters have been studied, including mannanoligosaccharides. However, studies investigating the use of mannanoligosaccharides have controversial conclusions, often due to the specific conditions under which each experiment was conducted. Evaluations of antimicrobial additives conducted without the presence of microbial challenge are often observed or conducted under conditions of unknown microbiological challenge. Thereby, the research results are often inconclusive and contradictory, which causes discussions on the subject. The meta-analysis is characterized as a tool that involves specific statistical methods that are applied to the systemic review, being an option to organize the information and generate a more robust conclusion. In addition, meta-analysis is a way of reusing the funds invested by development agencies through primary research; a fact that is of great value in the international context, but which gains more importance considering the economic situation in Brazil today. The objective of this project will be to develop a meta-analytical approach to study the use of mannanoligosaccharides as an alternative to antibiotics on performance of broiler chickens. For this purpose, a systematic review will be carried out, followed by quantitative analyzes with criteria based on the statistical concepts adopted in animal experimentation. The search for articles will be done in digital media through the words "broiler", "mannanoligosaccharide" and "performance", and their synonyms, with a filter of publications for the last two years. The data will be organized in the dataset and coded for statistical analysis. The steps of reviewing, filtering, and supplying the database will be done in pairs. In the definition of the statistical model, graphs will be constructed and hypotheses of correlation will be tested. The premises of normality of residues will be checked. Inferences of qualitative factors will be verified through analysis of variance and quantitative factors through regressions. When relevant, discrete and continuous variables will be integrated into a single variance-covariance model. (AU)