Effects of dicopper oxide and copper sulfate on growth performance and gut microbiota in broilers

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of two sources of copper ( Cu ) from copper sulfate ( CuSO 4 ) and dicopper oxide ( Cu 2 O , CoRouge) at three levels of inclusion (15, 75, and 150 mg/kg) on growth performance and gut microbiota of broilers. A total of 840 one-d-old male chickens (Ross 308) were weighed and randomly allocated to seven dietary treatments: negative control ( NC , a basal diet without Cu addition), and the NC supplemented with 15, 75, or 150 mg Cu/kg from CuSO 4 or Cu 2 O (12 replicate pens/treatment, 10 chicks per pen). Broilers were challenged by reusing an old litter with high concentrations in Clostridium perfringens to promote necrotic enteritis. Broiler performance was registered at d 21, 35, and 42. Excreta samples were collected at d 14, 28, and 42 for antimicrobial resistance ( AMR ) analyses. At d 43, one broiler per pen was euthanized to obtain ileal content for microbial characterization. Body weight d 35 and daily gain d 42 improved ( P < 0.05) in Cu 2 O as Cu dose inclusion increased from 15 mg/kg to 150 mg/kg. Supplementation of 150 mg/kg of Cu from Cu 2 O decreased the abundance ( P < 0.01) of some families such as Streptococcaceae and Corynebacteriaceae and increased the abundance ( P < 0.05) of some commensal bacteria like Clostridiaceae and Peptostreptococcaceae. Phenotypic AMR was not different among treatments on d 14 and 28. Isolated Enterococcus spp. from broilers fed the NC diet on d 42 showed higher ( P < 0.05) resistance to enrofloxacin, gentamicin, and chloramphenicol compared with Cu treatments. By contrast, the isolated Escherichia coli from broilers fed 150 mg/kg of Cu, either from CuSO 4 or Cu 2 O, showed higher ( P < 0.05) resistance to streptomycin and chloramphenicol compared to the NC. This study suggests that supplementing 150 mg/kg of Cu from Cu 2 O establishes changes in the gut microbiota by regulating the bacterial population in the ileum, which may explain the positive impact on broilers' growth performance.

How copper can impact pig growth: comparing the effect of copper sulfate and monovalent copper oxide on oxidative status, inflammation, gene abundance, and microbial modulation as potential mechanisms of action

“…The observation that Cu 2 O seemed to be more efficient than CuSO 4 in terms of reducing the growth of Rikenellaceae family and Holdemanella genus may indicate that Cu 2 O promotes intestinal health to a greater degree than CuSO 4 . Similar observations were reported from a study with broiler chickens ( Forouzandeh et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Therapeutic levels of Cu alter the intestinal microbiota in poultry ( Pang et al, 2009 ; Forouzandeh et al, 2021 ) and swine ( Wang et al, 2012 ; Villagómez-Estrada et al, 2020 ). Copper supplementation may act by reducing the total pathogenic organism in the gut ( Xia et al, 2004 ) and reducing susceptibility to disease due to its antimicrobial effect.…”

“…Although Cu can be provided in many different forms, Cu sulfate pentahydrate (CuSO 4 ·5H 2 O) is widely used in diets for pigs due to its relatively low cost and high solubility in water and acidic solvents ( Pang and Applegate, 2006 ; Park and Kim, 2016 ). A new source of Cu, monovalent copper oxide (Cu 2 O; Animine, Annecy, France), provided at up to 250 mg/kg diet results in improved growth performance and lower accumulation of Cu in the liver of broiler chickens ( Hamdi et al, 2018 ; Forouzandeh et al, 2021 ) and weanling pigs ( Bikker et al, 2017 ; Blavi et al, 2021 ) compared with animals fed Cu sulfate. However, no data are demonstrating how Cu 2 O impacts oxidative stress of pigs and limited information is available on the effects of Cu 2 O on immune function, intestinal gene abundance, and the microbial population in the hindgut of growing pigs.…”

Hot-melt extruded copper sulfate affects the growth performance, meat quality, and copper bioavailability of broiler chickens

“…In this study, 16 mg/kg of supplemental Cu in both IN-Cu and HME-Cu tended to increase the BWG at phase 2. In accordance with previous study, supplementation of 15 mg/kg Cu, CuSO 4 , or Cu 2 O, had tendance increasing the average daily gain of broilers [ 38 ]. In addition, Wang et al [ 39 ] reported that 50 mg/kg nano-Cu supplementation in diets increased the BWG in broiler chickens.…”

“…This study showed that supplementation with 16 mg/kg of Cu tended to decrease E. coli population in cecum. In contrast, 150 mg/kg of CuSO 4 in diets decreased the abundance of Streptococcaceae and Corynebacteriaceae, Gram-positive bacteria, in ileum [ 38 ]. Furthermore, Wang et al [ 39 ] reported that supplementation with 100 mg/kg of copper-loaded chitosan nanoparticles in broiler diets not only increased the Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium populations in cecum but also decreased the E. coli population compared to the control.…”