Evaluating Organic Acids as Alternatives to Antibiotic Growth Promoters in Enhancing the Performance of Broiler Chicken
Published: 2024-10-01
Page: 334-342
Issue: 2024 - Volume 7 [Issue 4]
Sujosh Roy
Department of Animal Science and Nutrition, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Chattogram Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Khulshi-4225, Chattogram, Bangladesh.
Dilruba Akter Mir *
Department of Dairy Science, Faculty of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences, Khulna Agricultural University, Khulna-9100, Khulna, Bangladesh.
Md. Sahidul Islam
Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences, Khulna Agricultural University, Khulna-9100, Khulna, Bangladesh.
Sharmin Zaman
Department of Poultry Science, Faculty of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences, Khulna Agricultural University, Khulna-9100, Khulna, Bangladesh.
Sabuj Kanti Nath
Department of Animal Nutrition, Faculty of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences, Khulna Agricultural University, Khulna-9100, Khulna, Bangladesh.
Bidyut Matubber
Department of Microbiology and Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences, Khulna Agricultural University, Khulna-9100, Khulna, Bangladesh.
Md. Emran Nazir
Department of Biochemistry and Food Analysis, Faculty of Nutrition and Food Science, Patuakhali Science and Technology University, Patuakhali-8602, Patuakhali, Bangladesh.
Ahanaf Tahmid Chowdhory
Faculty of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences, Khulna Agricultural University, Khulna-9100, Khulna, Bangladesh.
Nazmul Islam
Faculty of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences, Khulna Agricultural University, Khulna-9100, Khulna, Bangladesh.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Antibiotic growth promoters (AGP) are still widely used to improve gut health and growth performance in the global poultry industry. The continuous and excessive use of AGPs has been thought to decrease the efficacy of AGPs and threaten public health by spreading antibiotic resistant bacteria. The study was conducted to investigate the effect of organic acids (OAs) to substitute AGPs on the growth performance parameters of broiler chickens. A total of 150 unsexed day old broiler chicks (Cobb 500) were randomly allocated into five treatments with three replicates containing 10 chicks each. Group T0 served as control while the groups T1, T2 and T3 were supplemented with different organic acids (citric acid, formic acid and acetic acid, respectively). However, the group T4 received AGP (oxytetracycline hydrochloride) at the appropriate dosage (1g/1L). The feeding trial lasted for 28 days. The results of the experiment revealed that OAs and AGPs supplementation significantly (p˂0.01) improved feed conversion ratio (FCR) than control group. Besides, birds from T1, T2 and T3 groups had significantly higher (p<0.05) body weight gain (BWG) compared to control and AGP groups. Considering the whole experimental period, T1 and T3 groups had a significantly (p˂0.01) improved FCR than T0, T2 and T4 groups. In conclusion, OAs are more efficient than AGPs in improving broiler growth performance and could be successfully used to substitute AGPs in broiler diets, though the effect of all OA mixtures were not same on performance. More research is required to compare the use of organic acid combinations with antibiotics under various experimental situations.
Keywords: Organic acids, antibiotics, body weight, feed consumption, feed conversion ratio, broilers