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 plantarurn rs5 , r11 , rg14 and rg1 . 1 ( 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 rg1 . 1 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 r . s5 , 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 rg - 11 ( 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 comsoybean 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 , especiall y 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 ibi ) 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 (− ve 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 com 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 ). 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 ). the individual body weight ( bw ) and pen feed intake ( fi ) were recorded weekly and live weight gain ( wg ), fee . d 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 - ye 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 tenfold 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 ejunum ), 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 ( bill ) 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 , ct 06525 usa ) bonded phase fused silica capillary column . ( 15 m , 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 .