Influence of acidified drinking water on growth performance and gastrointestinal function of broilers

Abstract

The ban on the use of antibiotic feed additives as growth promoters compelled the researchers for exploring the future utility of other alternatives. This experiment was designed to evaluate the effect of acidified drinking water on growth performance, gastrointestinal pH, digestive enzymes, intestinal histomorphology, and cecum microbial counting of the broiler chicken. A total of 540 one-day-old male broilers (Arbor Acre) were randomly assigned to 5 treatments, with 6 replicates of 18 chicks per replicate. Broilers received diets and water as follows: NC (negative control, basal diet, normal water), PC (positive control, basal diet + 8 ppm colistin sulfate + 8 ppm enduracidin, normal water), A1 (basal diet, continuous supply of acidified water during whole experiment period), A2 (basal diet, intermittent acidification of water during 0 to 14 d, 22 to 28 d, and 36 to 42 d), and A3 [basal diet, intermittent acidification of water (24 h/d from 0 to 14 d and from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on d 15 to 42)]. During the entire period, the acidified groups (A1, A2, and A3) and PC group showed improve on weight gain, average daily gain and feed conversion ratio compared to NC group (P < 0.05). The pH in crop, proventriculus and ileum at 43 d declined by 0.04, 1.03, 1.23; 0.55, 0.69, 0.70; and 0.63, 0.74, 1.21 in A1, A2, and A3 group, respectively. There was a significant decline of lipase activity in the PC and acidified groups compared to NC group. The A2 group had higher villus height in jejunum than NC group. The PC and acidified groups reduced (P < 0.05) the total aerobic bacteria count of cecum when contrasted to NC group. Therefore, we conclude that acidified drinking water can improve growth performance, compensate for gastric acidity, and control pathogenic bacteria in broilers and may be considered as a potential alternative to improve production parameters. Discontinuous supply of acidified water had the same or even better influence on broilers compared to continuous supply.

Organic Acids Modulate Systemic Metabolic Perturbation Caused by Salmonella Pullorum Challenge in Early-Stage Broilers

“…Pullorum challenge on growth performance of broilers. The positive effect of OA supplementation on performance was comparable to virginiamycin in this study and to other antibiotics in a previous study (Hamid et al, 2018). The antimicrobial activity of OA and its effects on intestinal morphology could partly explain the growth improvement (Suiryanrayna and Ramana, 2015; Khan and Iqbal, 2016).…”

“…Pullorum challenge-induced enhancement of lysine degradation, indicating that intestinal flora are probably involved in the modulation of OA, because conversion of lysine into piperidine is dependent on intestinal flora. Acidified water inhibited aerobic bacterial count and Escherichia coli population in cecum contents of broilers, but did not change the pH of cecum (Hamid et al, 2018). In fact, we also analyzed the cecal microbiome but failed to observe any significant change in alpha-diversity indices of cecal microbiota, differentially abundant phyla, or family across the groups on day 42.…”

“…This activity in vivo is heavily dependent on the concentrations of OA achieved in the animal gut, diet composition and buffering within the diet, potential acid-resistance of Salmonella , and other factors (Suiryanrayna and Ramana, 2015). Furthermore, OA have been reported to benefit broiler and swine production by promoting growth, lowering the pH of the gastrointestinal tract, modifying the gastrointestinal tract and gut microbiota, enhancing immune responses, and other physiological functions (Suiryanrayna and Ramana, 2015; Khan and Iqbal, 2016; Dittoe et al, 2018; Hamid et al, 2018; Liu et al, 2018). However, it is still unclear how OA could efficiently prevent infection in the animal gut and promote growth.…”

Dietary supplementation with acidifiers improves the growth performance, meat quality and intestinal health of broiler chickens

“…Furthermore, it is more effective for young poultry that have an unmatured digestive system ( Andrys et al., 2003 ). Moreover, we found that acidified drinking water, which was acidified with a liquid acidifier (Lupro-Mix NC, produced by BASF Co., Ltd., consisting of propionic acid, ammonium propionate, formic acid and ammonium formate as active ingredients), could improve growth performance, compensate for gastric acidity, and control pathogenic bacteria in broilers ( Hamid et al., 2018 ).…”

Effect of asam kandis (Garcinia cowa Roxb) extract in drinking water on egg quality of Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica)

“…Antioxidants are chemical compounds that can be used to protect biological components such as lipids, proteins, vitamins and DNA from oxidation (Mbah et al, 2019). In addition, asam kandis is able to act as a natural acidifier that can improve performance through decreasing gastrointestinal pH which is suitable to support the digestive enzymes and reduce the pathogenic bacteria in the intestine (Hamid et al, 2018;Kopecký et al, 2012). Hydroxy citric acid is the main organic acid in asam kandis that can cause a decrease in pH value (Onakpoya et al, 2011).…”