a detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention is disclosed herein . it should be understood , however , the disclosed preferred embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention , which may be embodied in various forms . therefore , the details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting , but merely as the basis for the claims and for teaching one skilled in the art of the invention . a preferred embodiment of the present invention provides methods for improving animal agriculture , in particular in the production of meat producing livestock such as poultry . the methods for provides a feed strategy by having the capability to improve the followings : growth performance , carcass composition , appearance , and overall animal health . for example , it is said to illustrate that the methods of the present invention shows an improve of any one or combination of the following : animal production performance ( including growth performance , faecal microflora , volatile fatty acids and villi height of small intestine ); plasma cholesterol ; and use of dietary nutrients . yet , the object of the present invention relates to the effects of the metabolites produced by lactobacillus sp . within the growth performance , faecal microbial population , small intestine villus height and faecal volatile fatty acids ( vfa ) in broilers chickens . yet , another object of the present invention provides the means to identify an optimal combination of the lactobacillus sp . metabolites as an additive or supplementation in the diets of monogastric animals . accordingly , an optimal dosage is preferred for metabolite combination in animal feed additive or supplementation in the diets of monogastric animals . the present invention also provides the means for the metabolites to possess probiotic characteristics . this could give the means to improve the animals overall health . it is another object of the present invention ; the animal feed additive helps an animal to further digest its food . accordingly , the animal feed provides an advantage by limiting odour from the animal &# 39 ; s manure and providing a fine quality of manure in an agricultural land . where a range of values is provided , it is understood that each intervening value , to the tenth of the unit of the lower limit unless the context clearly dictates otherwise , between the upper and lower limit of that range and any other stated or intervening value in that stated range , is encompassed within the invention . the upper and lower limits of these smaller ranges may independently be included in the smaller ranges , and are also encompassed within the invention , subject to any specifically excluded limit in the stated range . where the stated range includes one or both of the limits , ranges excluding either or both of those included limits are also included in the invention . unless defined otherwise , all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs . although any methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can also be used in the practice or testing of the present invention , the preferred methods and materials are now described . all publications mentioned herein are incorporated herein by reference to disclose and describe the methods and / or materials in connection with which the publications are cited . it must be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims , the singular forms “ a ,” “ an ,” and “ the ” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise . monogastric animals such as pigs , poultry veal calves and fish are grown intensively for the production of meat , fish and eggs . these animals are fed diets containing a variety of raw materials of animal and / or vegetable origin to supply energy and protein . most of the feed that is consumed is produced commercially , but a significant part is produced on the farm and fed directly . the feed is often supplemented with vitamins and minerals to meet the animal &# 39 ; s nutrient requirements . the present invention provides novel metabolites possessing probiotic characteristics for use as feed additive or growth promoter in poultry . an animal feed additive that includes an effective amount of a naturally occurring source of lactobacillus sp metabolites is provided . moreover , the present invention relates to a biologically pure culture of lactobacillus plantarum rs5 , r11 , rg14 and rg11 ( comb 3456 ) or a mutant thereof obtained from a microorganism . the microorganisms are deposited at biotec culture collection ( bcc ), biotec central research unit of thailand ( a member of nstda ) and could also be obtained from the department of bioprocess technology , faculty of bioprocess technology , universiti putra malaysia . preferably , the biologically pure culture of plantarum rs5 , r11 , rg14 and rg11 or a mutant thereof is capable of producing an effective amount of metabolites for the use as an animal feed . preferably , the animal feed additive includes at least about 0 . 2 % ( w / v ) metabolites in combination on a dry weight basis . this animal feed additive may be combined with nutrients to form an animal feed , which is another aspect of the present invention . still further , the present invention includes a method of feeding animals the animals feed . the subject invention provides methods for improving poultry health . in specific embodiments , the invention provides methods for accelerating and / or augmenting poultry growth ; improving immunity ; and overall health of poultry . to do so , the present invention provides materials and methods for administering metabolites of lactobacillus sp isolated from malaysian foods to poultry . four combinations of metabolites produced from strains of l . plantarum were used to study the performance of broiler chickens . a total of 432 male ross broilers were raised from day old to 42 days of age in deep litter house pens ( 12 birds / pen ). these birds were divided into 6 groups and fed with different diets : ( i ) standard corn - soybean based diet ( negative control ); ( ii ) standard corn - soybean based diet + neomycin and oxytetracycline ( positive control ); ( iii ) standard corn - soybean based diet + 0 . 3 % metabolite combination of l . plantarum rs5 , ri11 , rg14 and rg11 strains ( com3456 ); ( iv ) standard corn - soybean based diet + 0 . 3 % metabolite combination of l . plantarum tl1 , ri11 and rg11 ( com246 ); ( v ) standard cornsoybean based diet + 0 . 3 % metabolite combination of l . plantarum tl1 , rg14 and rg11 ( com256 ) and ( vi ) standard corn - soybean based diet + 0 . 3 % metabolite combination of l . plantarum tl1 , rs5 , rg14 and rg11 ( com2356 ). higher final body weight , weight gain , average daily gain and lower feed conversion ratio were significantly ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ) found in all four treated groups . metabolites combination supplementation also increased faecal lab population , small intestine villus height and faecal volatile fatty acids and lowered cholesterol and faecal enterobacteriaceae population . the effects of feeding different dosages of metabolite combination of l . plantarum rs5 , ri11 , rg14 and rg11 strains ( com3456 ) on the performance of broiler chickens was studied . a total of 504 male ross broilers were grouped into 7 treatments and offered with different diets : ( i ) standard corn - soybean based diet ( negative control ); ( ii ) standard cornsoybean based diet + 100 ppm neomycin and oxytetracycline ( positive control ); ( iii ) standard corn - soybean based diet + 0 . 1 % metabolite combination of l . plantarum rs5 , ri11 , rg14 and rg11 strains ( com3456 ); ( iv ) standard corn - soybean based diet + 0 . 2 % of com3456 ; ( v ) standard corn - soybean based diet + 0 . 3 % of com3456 ( vi ) standard corn - soybean based diet + 0 . 4 % of com3456 and ( vii ) standard corn - soybean based diet + 0 . 5 % of com3456 . supplementation of com3456 with different dosages improved growth performance , reduced enterobacteriaceae and increased lactic acid bacteria count , and increased villi height of small intestine and faecal volatile fatty acids concentration . treatment with 0 . 4 % and 0 . 2 % com3456 had the best results , especially in terms of growth performance ; feed conversion ratio and villi height among other dosages . however , the dosage of 0 . 2 % was recommended due to its lower concentration with similar effect as 0 . 4 %. these results indicate that 0 . 2 % is an optimum level to be included in the diets of broiler in order to replace antibiotic growth promoters . a total of 432 male ross broilers from local company were raised from day old to 42 days of age in deep litter house . each pen consisted of 12 birds and was randomly allocated to the open house with wood shavings litter . upon arrival , the birds were vaccinated against infectious bronchitis ( ib ) and newcastle disease ( nd ) ( ib - nd fort dodge , usa ) by intraocular route . the ibd vaccine ( upm93 , myvac , malaysia ) against infectious bursal disease ibd was applied on day 14 of the rearing period . after vaccination , the birds were wing banded for monitoring of individual weight , water and feed were provided ad libitum . the starter and finisher diets were offered to the birds from 0 - 21 and 22 - 42 days of age , respectively . the dietary treatments consisted of : ( i ) corn - soybean basal diet without antibiotic eve control ); ( ii ) basal diet with 100 ppm neomycin and oxytetracycline (+ ve control ); ( iii ) basal diet supplemented with 0 . 1 % of metabolite combination from 4 strains of l . plantarum rs5 , ri11 , rg14 and rg11 ( com3456 ); ( iv ) basal diet supplemented with 0 . 2 % metabolite combinations of com3456 ; ( v ) basal diet supplemented with 0 . 3 % metabolite combinations of com3456 ; ( vi ) basal diet supplemented with 0 . 4 % metabolite combinations of corn 3456 and ( vii ) basal diet supplemented with 0 . 5 % metabolite combination of com3456 . the diets were formulated to meet the requirements of all nutrients for broiler chickens . the percentage composition of starter and finisher diets are presented in tables 1 and 2 , respectively 1 com3456 is a combination of 4 strains rs5 , ri11 rg11 and rg14 ; com246 is a combination of tl1 , ri11 and rg11 ; com256 is a combination of tl1 , ri14 and rg11 ; com2456 is a combination of tl1 , ri11 , rg14 and rg11 . 2 mineral mix that provided per kilogram of the diet : fe 100 mg ; mn 110 mg ; cu 20 mg ; zn 100 mg ; i 2 mg ; se 0 . 2 mg ; co 0 . 6 mg . 3 vitamin mix that provided per kilogram of the diet : vitamin a 6 , 667 iu ; vitamin d 1 , 000 iu ; vitamin e 23 iu ; vitamin k3 1 . 33 mg ; cobalamin 0 . 03 mg ; thiamin 0 . 83 mg ; riboflavin 2 mg ; folic acid 0 . 33 mg ; biotin 0 . 03 mg ; pantothenic acid 3 . 75 mg ; niacin 23 . 3 mg ; pyridoxine 1 . 33 mg . 4 a combination of oxytetracyclin and neomycin at the concentration of 100 ppm ( w / w ). data and sample collection the individual body weight ( bw ) and pen feed intake ( fi ) were recorded weekly and live weight gain ( wg ), feed conversion ratio ( fcr ) and average daily gain ( adg ) were calculated . twelve birds at week 6 of each treatment group were randomly and equally selected and slaughtered for sampling as feces and small intestines were taken for further analysis . all procedures were approved by research advisory committee , university putra malaysia . the growth performance is shown in table 3 . the bw , total wg and adg of chickens at 42 days of age in the − ve control treatment were the lowest ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ) among the treatments , while the chickens in treatment , supplemented with 0 . 4 % com3456 from 4 strains of l . plantarum had the highest ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ) bw , wg and adg at 6 weeks of age , followed by birds of + ve control and 0 . 2 % com3456 at the third place . however , there was no bw and wg difference ( p & gt ; 0 . 05 ) among chickens in + ve control and treatments supplemented with com3456 , except for treatment supplemented with 0 . 5 % com3456 , which was the lowest among treated groups . feed intake means were not significantly different ( p & gt ; 0 . 05 ) among the treatments . relating to the fcr , the lowest result ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ) was found in treatment supplemented with 0 . 4 % com3456 as compared with the remaining of the treatments . it shown that higher live bw , total wg and adg for + ve control and 5 groups supplemented with different dosages of com3456 compared to that of birds in − ve control , which was fed with corn - soybean based diet . the metabolite combinations from the 4 strains of l . plantarum ( com3456 ) at different levels of dosages could partially replace antibiotic growth promoter and the optimal dosage in terms of growth performance was 0 . 4 % com3456 , which gave the highest growth performance , followed by 0 . 2 % com3456 . in terms of improvement percentage of performance compared to − ve control , birds supplemented with different dosages of metabolite combinations had 4 - 12 % higher live bw at week 6 than − ve control birds . the metabolite combinations as potential replacement of agp are due to their antimicrobial effects . the main effects of antimicrobials in improving growth rate were due to its bacteriostatic and bactericidal effect to inhibit and kill pathogenic bacterial load in gastrointestinal microflora . the antibacterial activity of agp has been proven in germ free animals . 1 com3456 is a combination of 4 strains rs5 , ri11 rg11 and rg14 ; com246 is a combination of tl1 , ri11 and rg11 ; com256 is a combination of tl1 , ri14 and rg11 ; com2456 is a combination of tl1 , ri11 , rg14 and rg11 . the faecal lab and ent population was determined using the method as described by foo et al . ( 2003b ). ten percent ( w / v ) of faecal sample was diluted in sterile peptone water , left at room temperature for an hour prior to further ten - fold serial dilutions ( v / v ). enumerations of lab were performed on mrs - agar ( lactobacillus - agar de man , rogosa and shape ) ( merck ®, kgaa , darmstadt ). the plates were incubated in anaerobic jar at 30 ° c . for 48 hours . ent were spread and counted on emb - agar ( eosin - methylene - blue lactose sucrose agar ( merck ®, kgaa , darmstadt ) and incubated aerobically for 24 hours at 37 ° c . the number of colony - forming units ( cfu ) was expressed as the base 10 logarithm of cfu ( logcfu ) per gram . all samples were repeated in triplicates . faecal lab and ent count is presented in table 4 . the faecal lab count from − ve control birds was the lowest ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ), while no significant difference was found among the remaining of the treatments . with regard to ent count at week 6 , the − ve and + ve control birds had the highest ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ) results . in contrast , the lowest ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ) ent count was observed in 0 . 2 % and 0 . 5 % com3456 . ent count from other treated groups of 0 . 1 %, 0 . 3 % and 0 . 4 % com3456 were also significantly lower ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ) than that of − ve and + ve control . it is shown that the effect of metabolite combinations in reducing gastrointestinal ent . additionally , the metabolite combinations increased gastrointestinal lab . although with different degrees , all dosage levels of metabolite combinations had effects in increasing gastrointestinal lab . all treatments supplemented with com3456 had positive effects in reducing ent count . the effect of metabolite combination in reducing gastrointestinal ent gave better chances for lab to increase their population in intestinal microflora via competitive exclusion . 1 com3456 is a combination of 4 strains rs5 , ri11 rg11 and rg14 ; com246 is a combination of tl1 , ri11 and rg11 ; com256 is a combination of tl1 , ri14 and rg11 ; com2456 is a combination of tl1 , ri11 , rg14 and rg11 . the procedure was a modified method as described by hair - bejo ( 1990 ). segments of 5 to 6 cm long were removed from the duodenum , jejunum , and ileum as follows : i ) the middle part of the duodenal loop , ii ) midway between the end point of duodenal loop and meckel &# 39 ; s diverticulum ( jejunum ), and iii ) midway between the meckel &# 39 ; s diverticulum and the ileo - cecal junction ( ileum ). the intestinal segments were flushed with 10 % neutral buffered formalin solution and were then used for morphometric analysis . for morphometric analysis , segments were fixed in 10 % neutral buffered formalin solution overnight . intestinal samples were then excised , dehydrated in tissue processing machine ( leica , japan ) and embedded in paraffin wax . sections of 4 μm were cut from each of the sample , fixed on slides , stained with haematoxylin and eosin , mounted and examined under light microscopes . the morphometric variables examined included : villi height ( from the tip of the villi to the villi crypt junction ), crypt depth ( defined as the depth of the invagination between adjacent villi ). the villi height and crypt depth were measured using image analyzer . values are means from the best 20 villi and only vertically oriented villi and crypts from each slide were measured . the vfa concentration in the feces was determined using the modified method of jin et al . ( 1998 ). one gram of faecal sample ( stored at − 20 ° c .) from each sample was weighed in a sampling tube . one ml of 24 % metaphosphoric acid diluted in 1 . 5 m sulphuric acid ( bhd laboratories , poole , uk ) was added . the mixture was kept at room temperature overnight and centrifuged at 10 , 000 rpm for 20 min at 4 ° c . the collected supernatant was kept in a 2 - ml screw - capped vial ( kimble glass inc ., usa ). the internal standard 20 mm 4 - methyl - valeric acid ( sigma chemical co ., st . louis , mo ., usa ) was added to the supernatant to achieve 10 mm in the combination and stored at − 20 ° c . until glc analysis . vfa were separated by a quadrex 007 series ( quadrex corp ., new haven , conn . 06525 usa ) bonded phase fused silica capillary column ( 15m , 0 . 32 mm id , 0 . 25 μm film thickness ) in a 6890n ( hewlett - packard , avondale , pa .) equipped with a flame ionization detector . the purified nitrogen functioned as a carrier gas with a flow rate of 60 ml / min . the temperature of the injector and detector was 230 ° c . the column temperature was set at 200 ° c . in an isothermal status . the commercial standards of 20 mm acetic , and 10 mm each of propionic , butyric , isobutiric , valeric , isovaleric and 4 - methyl - valeric acids from sigma ( sigma chemical co ., st . louis , mo ., usa ) were used as external standards to identify the peaks . the faecal vfa is presented in table 5 . the main vfa was acetic , followed by propionic and butyric but in smaller concentration . the treatments supplemented with 0 . 4 % and 0 . 3 % com3456 had the highest ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ) acid acetic and total vfa level . in contrast , the lowest ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ) results were found in − ve control birds . however , no significant difference ( p & gt ; 0 . 05 ) of acetic acid and total vfa concentration was found among the rest of the treatments . with regard to propionic acid and other vfa , no significant difference ( p & gt ; 0 . 05 ) was observed among all of the treatments . the butyric acid level of birds fed with 0 . 1 % com3456 was significantly different ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ) with that of treatments supplemented with 0 . 3 %, 0 . 4 % and 0 . 5 % com3456 . however , no significant difference ( p & gt ; 0 . 05 ) was found among the other 6 treatments . the supplementation of metabolite combinations increased the faecal vfa . there was an increase of vfa in some dosages of com3456 , especially in 0 . 3 % and 0 . 5 % com3456 at week 3 and 0 . 4 % com3456 at week 6 . one of the main reasons of the increase of vfa in treated birds may be the increase of lab in treatments , supplemented with metabolite combinations as lab and other gut microbiota ferments various substrates like lactose , biogenic amines and allergenic compounds into short - chain fatty acids and other organic acids and gases ( gibson & amp ; fuller , 2000 ). 1 com3456 is a combination of 4 strains rs5 , ri11 rg11 and rg14 ; com246 is a combination of tl1 , ri11 and rg11 ; com256 is a combination of tl1 , ri14 and rg11 ; com2456 is a combination of tl1 , ri11 , rg14 and rg11 . data were analyzed as a complete randomized design using the general linear models procedure of the statistical analysis system ( sas , 1998 ). duncan multiple range test was used to compare means of treatments . the data were presented as the mean ± standard error of the mean ( sem ). the experimental units are pens with broiler chickens as experimental subjects . the statistical model is as the following :
the present invention relates an improved feed additive or food supplement formulation obtained from more than one strain of lactic acid bacteria . the feed additive or supplements is used to feed monogastric animals such as avian , fowl . moreover , the feed provides better growth and feed utilization for monogastric animals . further , the animal feed can be used for controlling food intake in the animals .