Effects of feed supplementation with increasing levels of organic acids on growth performance, carcass traits, gut microbiota and pH, plasma metabolites, and immune response of broilers
Journal Title: Animal Science Papers and Reports - Year 2016, Vol 34, Issue 2
Abstract
The effects of organic acids included in broiler feed on growth performance, carcass traits, caecal microbiota, duodenal pH, plasma metabolites, and immune response were studied. A total of 210 one-day-old female chickens of the Cobb 500 strain were allocated to one of the following treatments (three replicates of 10 birds per treatment): control (basal diet with no added acids), and basal diet supplemented with 0.3 and 0.5% of either formic acid (F0.3 and F0.5 treatments), or propionic acid (P0.3 and P0.5 treatments), or a commercial mixture of both acids and their ammonium salts (S0.3 and S0.5 treatments). The F0.5, P0.5 and S0.5 treatments showed the best results in body weight gain, feed conversion rate, final body weight, and relative breast and drumstick weights. The S0.5 treatment had the highest relative liver weight and Lactobacilli counts, and the lowest Escherichia coli counts. The lowest duodenal pH values corresponded to the P0.3, P.05 and S0.5 treatments. Plasma calcium was higher in the supplemented treatments. The immune response to Newcastle disease was more sustained in the F0.5, S0.3 and S0.5 treatments. Supplemented treatments had a better response to infectious bronchitis, while the responses to SRBC were higher in the F0.5, P0.5 and S0.5 treatments. Supplementation of broiler feed with 0.5% of formic or propionic acids positively influenced the productivity traits, but a mixture of both acids with their ammonium salts was even more effective. Changes in the intestinal environment due to organic acid supplementation could cause increased nutrient availability for the animals and improved the immune response.
Authors and Affiliations
Rouzbeh Fathi, Mohammad Saleh Samadi, Ali A. A. Qotbi, Alireza Seidavi, Andrés L. Martínez Marín
Keywords
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