108 Present address: 1,5 Principal Scientist (drashiskumarsamanta @gmail.com, ssenani@rediffmail.com), 2 Scientist (atulkolte@ yahoo.com), Animal Nutrition Division; 3,6 Principal Scientist (avelango@yahoo.co.in, manpalsridhar@yahoo.co.uk), 4 Senior Scientist (dhali72@gmail.com), Bioenergetics and Environmental Sciences Division; 5 Research Scholar (coolnuts21@gmail.com), Department of Biotechnology and Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, Kannur University. The primary goal of the broiler chicken industry is to deliver the safe meat for human consumption after due contemplation on the public health, consumer mindset, environment and finally the welfare of the birds. In keeping with the pace for demands of the poultry meat by ever increasing human population, the broiler industry has made a long journey from its informal farmyard (backyard) activity to modern factory style enterprise involving dietary, management, housing, stress amelioration, quality control etc (Prasad et al. 2015). Along with the regular supply of meat to the consumer, the broiler chicken sector also ensures sustainable livelihood to the millions of people. The visible growth witnessed during the past century is the fruit of untiring efforts contributed by all sectors of people associated with one or other activities of broiler chicken industry. From nutritional point of view, application of antibiotics as feed additive was thought to be one of the major contributors for enhancement of productivity as well as control of diseases in the poultry industry (Samanta et al. 2013). As a result of continuous application of antibiotics as growth promoters in food animals, a serious public health issue has emerged out, particularly on development and transfer of antibiotic resistance gene from animal to human (Mathur and Singh 2005). Global apprehensions on “development of microbial resistance to antibiotic and transference of antibiotic resistance genes” from livestock to human led to the ban on antibiotics usages as growth promoters in the European nations since January, 2006 and several countries are on the way to restrict feed application of antibiotics in the poultry industry (Castanon 2007). This has resulted into substantial increase in the usages of therapeutic antibiotics (Gaggia et al. 2010). Therefore, finding out the viable alternative of antibiotic to protect the gastrointestinal tract of animals is an essential task with regards to animal welfare and public health concerns. One of the alternatives suggested is prebiotic supplementation (Biggs et al. 2007). Albeit, intensive research dedicated to the evaluation of fructose based oligosaccharides such as inulin and fructooligosaccharides in the diet of birds, however, meager information is available currently on the effectiveness of xylooligosaccharides (XOS), a xylose based prebiotic (Zhenping et al. 2013). Recently, there has been a growing interest on the emerging prebiotic XOS; because its production largely Indian Journal of Animal Sciences 87 (5): 640–643, May 2017/Article Effects of corn husks derived xylooligosaccharides on performance of broiler chicken A K SAMANTA 1 , A P KOLTE 2 , A V ELANGOVAN 3 , A DHALI 4 , S SENANI 5 , MANPAL SRIDHAR 6 and NATASHA JAYAPAL 7 ICAR-National Institute of Animal Nutrition and Physiology, Bengaluru, Karnataka 56 0030 India Received: 16 July 2016; Accepted: 19 October 2016 ABSTRACT Pentose based prebiotic xylooligosaccharides attracts greater attention around the world because it exhibits several beneficial effects to the host. Therefore, an in vivo experiment was carried out to reveal the effects of corn husks derived xylooligosaccharides in broiler chicken. The day-old broiler chickens (96; divided into 2 groups) were raised for 3 weeks on control diet or same diet supplemented with 0.5% xylooligosaccharides (XOS); derived from corn husks. In order to produce the XOS, xylan was extracted from the corn husks by alkaline extraction. The xylan was subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis at pH 5.8, temperature 44°C, enzyme dose of 5.7U/ml for 17h to yield XOS. The concentrated XOS was supplemented in the diet of broiler chicken during the entire experimental periods. Albeit, no positive influence was noticed on either the live weight or feed conversion efficiency, but 0.5% XOS supplementation resulted in to selective stimulation of Bifidobacteria, coupled with reduction in the population of Streptococci and E. coli in the caecum of broiler chicken. In line with the caecal microflora changes, blood biochemical profiling reflected reduced cholesterol, triglycerides and glucose concentration as a result of XOS supplementation. Thus, corn husks derived XOS showed positive influence on caecal microflora and blood biochemical profile in broiler chicken and could be incorporated in the diets for ensuring beneficial effects. Key words: Xylooligosaccharides, Feed additive, Broiler chicken, Gut microflora https://doi.org/10.56093/ijans.v87i5.70270