Targeted-Release Organic Acids and Essential Oils Improve Performance and Digestive Function in Broilers Under a Necrotic Enteritis Challenge

• Published in: Animals (Basel) Vol. 10; no. 2; p. 259
• Main Authors: Abdelli, Nedra, Pérez, José Francisco, Vilarrasa, Ester, Cabeza Luna, Irene, Melo-Duran, Diego, D'Angelo, Matilde, Solà-Oriol, David
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01-02-2020; MDPI
• Subjects: aromatic compounds; broiler; Broilers (Chickens); Care and treatment; Enteritis; Essences and essential oils; gut health; Health aspects; intestinal histomorphology; microbiota; microencapsulation; Organic acids; Poultry diseases; Spain; microbiota; gut health; performance; intestinal histomorphology; microencapsulation; broiler; essential oils; organic acids
• ISSN: 2076-2615; 2076-2615
• DOI: 10.3390/ani10020259

An experiment was performed to evaluate the effect of four different microencapsulated blends of organic acids (OA) and nature-identical aromatic compounds (AC) on growth performance and gut health of broilers challenged with a recycled NE litter. A total of 600 one-day-old male Ross 308 broilers were randomly assigned to five treatments consisting of a basal diet (as negative control) supplemented with each of the tested microencapsulated blends: OA1 (malic and fumaric acid) + AC; 2.5 g/kg; OA2 (calcium butyrate+fumaric acid) + AC; 1.7 g/kg; MCFA (capric-caprylic; caproic and lauric acid) + AC; 2 g/kg; and MCFA + OA3(calcium butyrate + fumaric and citric acid) + AC; 1.5 g/kg. The AC used was the same for all treatments; including cinnamaldehyde, carvacrol, and thymol (8:1:1), as major compounds. Three tested blends enhanced growth performance by improving intestinal histomorphology (
< 0.001). The tested blends enhanced the abundance of some beneficial families such as Ruminococcaceae and Lachnospiraceae; while reducing that of harmful ones such as Enterobacteriaceae and Helicobacteraceae. A further dose-response experiment showed that 0.5 g/kg of the blend 2 and 2 g/kg of the blend 4 improved growth performance and intestinal histomorphology of chickens on d 42 and decreased fecal Enterobacteriaceae and
counts. Similar effects to the previous experiment were observed for cecum microbiota.