INTRODUCTION

In the new context of antibiotic restriction on poultry production, natural feed additives with an impact on intestinal health and consequently on growth performance may be used as a strategy. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of a blend of Protected Organic Acids + Essential Oils on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and intestinal health of broiler chickens undergoing an intestinal challene.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

• Location: Federal University of Santa Maria, Brazil.

• Animals: 1,080 day-old male broiler chickens (Cobb 500), 1-42 d of age, 40 fl oor pens (27 birds/pen).

• 4 treatments with 10 replicates/treatment.

• Four-phase feeding program (1–7, 7–21, 21–35, and 35–42 d)

Evaluations

• Body weight gain (BWG), feed intake (FI) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were evaluated weekly.

• Nutrient digestibility: Ileal dry matter (DM), crude protein and energy digestibility were evaluated at 21 d.

• Intestinal integrity: At 17 d of age, one bird per pen was orally gavaged with fl uorescein-isothiocyanate
labelled dextran (FITC-d) and blood samples were collected after 1 h for FITC-d detection.

    • Intestinal health: Intestinal macroscopic analysis and ileal histologic analysis were performed at 21 d.
      The I See Inside Scoring System Methodology^® (ISI) was performed according to Kraieski et al. (2016).
      In this methodology, a lower number of ISI index represents a better intestinal health.

• Statistical analysis. ANOVA and Fisher LSD (XLSTAT software) for a completely randomized design.
A P≤0.05 was used to indicate statistical difference.

RESULTS

• The poor results of the PC compared to NC group show that the challenge model was efficient.

    • For all phases, BWG of birds on P(OA+EO) was better than PC and similar to AGP group (P<0.05; Figure 1).
      Similar results were found for FCR, but from 14-21 and 21-28 d birds on P(OA+EO) had even better FCR than
      the AGP group (P<0.05; Figure 2).

• Birds on P(OA+EO) had higher DM (3.3%) and energy digestibility (110 kcal) compared to PC group,
and no difference compared to AGP group (P<0.05; Figure 3).

    • Intestinal health was improved in birds on P(OA+EO) due to the lower levels of FITC-d in the blood, compared
      to PC group (P<0.05; Figure 4). FITC-d is a molecule with high molecular weight that is only detected in
      the blood when the intestinal mucosa is damaged. Also, compared to PC group, birds on P(OA+EO) had
      reduced total ISI ileal histologic index (P<0.05; Figure 5), mainly due to a reduced infl ammatory cell infiltration
      on epithelium.

CONCLUSION

The blend of Protected Organic Acids + Essential Oils studied may be used to improve growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and intestinal health of broiler chickens undergoing an intestinal challenge, with similar and better effect to an antibiotic growth promoter

For more of the article, please click here.

Article made possible through the contribution of Jefo

A blend of protected organic acids + essential oils improves growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and intestinal health of broiler chickens undergoing an intestinal challenge