Influence of an organic acid blend and essential oil blend, individually or in combination, on growth performance, carcass parameters, apparent digestibility, intestinal microflora and intestinal morphology of broilers

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the influence of an organic acid (OA) and essential oil (EO) blends, individually or in combination, on growth performance, carcass parameters, apparent digestibility, intestinal microflora and intestinal morphology of broilers. A total of 480 one-d-old male Ross 308 chicks were randomly assigned to 4 treatments consisting of 4 replicates each (n = 30 birds in each replicate). Dietary treatments consisted of a basal diet (control), and basal diet supplemented with 2 g/kg OA blend (OAB), 300 mg/kg EO blend (EOB), or with 2 g/kg OA and 300 mg/kg EO blend (OAB-EOB) for 42 d. The dietary supplementation with EO blend or in combination with OA blend increased body weight gain and improved feed efficiency as compared to control. Dietary treatments had no significant effects on feed consumption or relative organ weights of broilers. The OAB diet increased carcass yield compared to the control diet but the lowest carcass yield occurred with the OAB-EOB combination. Birds fed on EOB and OAB-EOB diets had lower ileum Escherichia coli counts than birds fed on the control diet. There was no significant effect of treatments on apparent digestibility at 16-21 d but the EOB and OAB-EOB diets increased apparent digestibility of dry matter and crude protein during the finisher period (d 37-42) compared to the control diet. Birds fed on the EOB and OAB-EOB diets had greater villus height in the ileum at 21 and 42 d of age and had lower crypt depth in the ileum at 42 d of age than birds given the control diet. In conclusion, beneficial effects of the use of EO blend individually or in combination with the OA blend were observed but the OA blend alone was ineffective. Furthermore, the use of the combination of OA and EO was more effective, in some respects, than their individual use.

Essential oils as alternatives to antibiotics in swine production

“…Several in vivo studies indicated that essential oils increased the Lactobacillus group and decreased E. coli or total coliforms in piglets ( Namkung et al., 2004 , Castillo et al., 2006 , Li et al., 2012 , Zeng et al., 2015 , Wei et al., 2017 ). These results were consistent with the results observed in several poultry studies with the supplementation of essential oils ( Oviedo-Rondón et al., 2006 , Tiihonen et al., 2010 , Amerah et al., 2011 , Basmacioglu-Malayoglu et al., 2016 , Cetin et al., 2016 , Liu et al., 2017 ), suggesting that essential oil treatment led to some fundamental changes within gut microbiota mainly in the number of observed Lactobacillus species. However, studying the effects of essential oils on the gut microbiome of pigs with integrated approaches (e.g., various molecular and “omics” technologies as well as bioinformatics and statistical analyses) is still needed in order to comprehensively monitor the shifts in composition and functionality of the microbiota in response to dietary essential oils treatments.…”

Effects of dietary supplementation with herbal extract mixture on growth performance, organ weight and intestinal morphology in weaning piglets

“…Herbal essential oils in diet improved the villus width and height in the jejunum and ileum of quail breeders (Hajiaghapour & Rezaeipour, 2018). Broilers fed on the organic acid blends and essential oil blends had higher villus height and lower crypt depth in the ileum (Basmacioğlu-Malayoğlu, Ozdemir, & Bağriyanik, 2016). Consistent with those earlier studies, we observed that HEM improved intestinal morphology through increased the ratio of villus height to crypt depth in two small intestine segments of duodenum and jejunum, and HEM had the same effect to intestinal morphology with antibiotics.…”

Role of acidifiers in livestock nutrition and health: A review

“…In broilers, the dietary supplementation with organic acid improved body weight gain and feed efficiency when compared with control. But, dietary organic acids had no significant impacts on feed intake or relative organ weights (Basmacioğlu‐Malayoğlu, Ozdemir, & Bağriyanik, ).…”