PHOTO: LEX SALVERDA


ORGANIC ACIDS ▶▶▶


Blending organic acids with essential oils to replace AGPs in broilers


In a study recently published in the Poultry Science journal, researchers found beneficial effects of blending encapsulated essential oils and organic acids as an antibiotic growth promoter alternative in broilers with necrotic enteritis.


BY MATTHEW WEDZERAI, FREELANCE CORRESPONDENT A Item PC BW gain (g/bird) FCR 2774a


Feed intake (g/bird) 4344ab 1.54bc


NC


2546b 4164bc 1.63a


AGP


2904a 4494a 1.52c


ntibiotics as an antimicrobial growth promoter (AGP) for poultry have gradually been banned or limited in some countries, because of increasing antimicrobial resistance and drug residues in poul-


try products. However, in many countries, research data have revealed that the removal of AGPs from poultry feed leads to reduced performance and the frequent occurrence of enteric disorders such as necrotic enteritis (NE), calling for safe and effective alternatives. Necrotic enteritis typically occurs in broiler chickens and is characterised by reduced weight gain, increased mortality, poor feed conversion efficiency, and con- siderable economic losses. Essential oils (EOs) are promising in-feed antibiotic alternatives due to their natural, low toxicity, and no-residue properties. In addition, EOs have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and anti-parasitic properties. Similarly, studies show that organic acids (OAs) exhibit nu- merous physiological effects, including antimicrobial activity,


Table 1 – Effects of dietary EOA supplementation on growth performances of broiler chickens co- infected with Eimeria maxima and C. perfringens (day 1-42).


Diets


EOA-200 2596b 4089bc 1.57bc


EOA-500 2566b 4140bc 1.61ab


a,b,c Means within the same row without a common superscript differ significantly (P < 0.05). 26 ▶ ALL ABOUT FEED | Volume 30, No. 5, 2022


EOA-800 2476b 4004c 1.62ab


an anti-stress effect, promotion of gut development, immune modulation, and energy supply for intestinal cells.


The study setup The researchers evaluated the effects of a blend of encapsu- lated organic acids (OAs) with essential oils (EOA) as an al- ternative to antimicrobial growth promoter (AGP) on growth performance and gut health of Eimeria spp./Clostridium perfringens (C. perfringens) in chickens infected with necrotic enteritis (NE) broilers. A total of 432 broilers (1-day-old) were put in six treatment groups/diets as follows: • Positive control (PC): uninfected and untreated control • Negative control (NC): infected and untreated control • AGP: the infected birds were fed a basal diet supplemented with 250 mg/kg bacitracin methylene disalicylate plus 90 mg/kg monensin


• EOA: the infected birds were fed a basal diet supplemented with three levels of the blend (200 mg/kg, 500 mg/kg, and 800 mg/kg).


The blend’s active ingredients were 4% carvacrol, 4% thyme, 0.5% hexanoic, 3.5% benzoic, and 0.5 % butyric acid. The fo- cus was to determine whether EOAs could be used as alterna- tives to AGPs to improve growth and gut health and control NE infection in broiler chickens.


Improved growth performance In this study, infected broiler chickens fed with AGP had the highest weight gain and feed intake compared to the other groups. However, the FCR was not significantly different from the positive control and the blend at 200 mg/kg. The FCR val- ue increased with the increase in EOA inclusion levels, but all levels were better than the negative control. It was generally concluded that adding EOAs at 200 mg/kg or 500 mg/kg is beneficial to weight gain and feed efficiency in broiler chick- ens with necrotic enteritis infection. And the benefits were comparable to using AGPs at the levels included in this study.


Gut microbiota modulation Necrotic enteritis infection significantly increased the amount


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