The effect of dietary organic acids on performance, carcass characteristics, immunity, blood constitutes and ileal microflora of broiler chickens

Organic acids have been proposed as food additives with great potential to replace growth-promoting antibiotics. The experiment was performed to evaluate the effect of the inclusion of different levels of formic acid and acetic acid on performance, carcass characteristics, immunity, blood constitutes, and ileal microflora of broiler chickens. 120-day-old male broiler chicks (Ross 308) were distributed into 4 treatments having 3 replicates of 10 birds each during 42 days of treatment. T1: control group without any dietary supplementation; T2 - 0.25% formic acid and 0.25% acetic acid; T3 0.5% formic acid and 0.5% acetic acid; T4 - 0.75% formic acid and 0.75% acetic acid. A significant improvement in the feed conversion ratio was observed in a total experimental period in T2, T3, and T4 with respect to the control (P<0.05). Organic acids increase significantly the total Lactobacilli count and reduce the E. coli count in ileum digesta (P<0.05). Organic acids can be used in the dietary supplementation of broilers as a replacement for growth-promoting antibiotics.

Automated summary

Organic acids are promising food additives that can replace growth-promoting antibiotics and improve broiler performance and intestinal microbiota.