An experiment was conducted to determine the influence of organic acid salt supplementation on the performance and gut health of broiler chickens. One hundred and twenty day old commercial Vencobb-+** broiler chicks were randomly distributed into three groups having four replicates of +* birds in each group. Control (C) birds were o#ered standard basal diet and treatment + and , (T+ and T,) were having diets with ammonium formate or calcium propionate (-gm/kg diet). Organic acid salt supplementation increased (Pῐ *.*/) live weight, live weight gain at day ,+, whereas no significant di#erence was noted at day .,. Cumulative feed intake was higher (Pῐ*.*+) in treatments up to-rd week but afterwards in control. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) at day ., was better in treatment groups (Pῐ*.*/) compared with control. Organic acid salt reduced coliform count in feed compared to control (Pῐ*.*/), whereas clostridium count was una#ected (Pῑ*.*/). Ammonium formate supplementation lowered (Pῐ*.*/) Escherichia coli (E. coli) count in gut but clostridium count was una#ected (Pῑ*.*/). Histology of intestinal parts revealed that organic acid salt supplementation increased (Pῐ*.*/) villus height of di#erent segment of small intestine compared with control. pH of di#erent segments of gastrointestinal (GI) tract was una#ected by organic acid salt supplementation. Results of present experiment indicated that use of single organic acid salt i.e. ammonium formate or calcium propionate in the diet lowered feed intake but body weight gain was comparable as control birds, and thus improved feed conversion ratio. It also reduced bacterial and fungal count in feed and gut which improved villus height and helped in better nutrient utilization.

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An experiment was conducted to determine the influence of dietary inorganic (copper sulfate) and organic (copper proteinate) forms of copper and energy level on performance and nutrient utilization of broiler chickens. Two hundred day-old commercial Vencobb broiler chicks were purchased and randomly distributed to 20 cages of 10 birds each. These replicates were randomly assigned to one of five treatments in a ((2×2)+1) factorial arrangement. These two factors were sources of Cu (CuSO 4 vs. Cuproteinate) and dose of Cu supplements (200 mg and 400 mg/kg dietary dry matter) and the control (no supplemental Cu). After the starter period (up to 3 weeks), from d 22 onwards another factor i.e. energy at two levels (2,900 vs. 2,920 kcal/kg diet) was introduced with the previous factorial arrangements by subdividing each replicate into two equal parts, for two energy levels, without disturbing the dose and source of Cu supplement. Cu-salt supplementation linearly increased (p<0.01) live weight (LW), live weight gain (LWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) at 3 weeks, whereas cumulative feed intake (CFI) was unaffected (p>0.05). LWG and FCR were higher (p<0.01) in Cu-proteinate supplemented birds compared to CuSO 4 supplementation. A linear dose response (p<0.01) of Cu was found for the performance of broiler chickens. Birds having a higher energy level in the finisher stage increased (p<0.01) LWG and FCR. Cumulative feed intake was similar (p>0.05) across the groups up to the 5 th week. Cu-proteinate increased performance of broiler chickens compared to CuSO 4. Dose of supplemental Cu-salt irrespective of source showed a linear response (p<0.01) for performance. Supplementation of Cu-proteinate increased metabolizability of DM (p<0.01), NFE (p<0.05), total carbohydrate (p<0.01) and OM (p<0.01) at the starter period. Increased dose of Cu-salt linearly increased (p<0.01) metabolizability of DM, CP, CF, NFE and OM. Higher energy level in the diet improved DM (p<0.05), EE (p<0.01), NFE (p = 0.01), total carbohydrate (p<0.01) and OM (p<0.01) metabolizability. Cu-proteinate supplementation showed better nutrient utilization compared to CuSO 4 . Dose of Cu linearly increased DM, CP, EE, NFE, total carbohydrate and OM metabolizability. CF metabolizability was unaffected (p>0.05) among the treatments. In conclusion, dietary supplementation of Cu-salt more than the requirement may improve performance and nutrient utilization in broiler chickens even with a high energy finisher diet. Cu-proteinate showed better performance and nutrient utilization compared to CuSO 4 .

Twenty eight 3-4 month old castrated Black Bengal kids (Capra hircus) were used to determine the effects of source and level of dietary copper (Cu) concentration on their performance and nutrient utilization. Cu was supplemented (0, 10, 20 and 30 mg/kg diet DM) as copper sulfate (CuSO 4 , 5H 2 O) or copper proteinate (Cu-P). Kids were fed a basal diet containing maize (19.5%), soybean (17.0%), deoiled rice bran (56.5%), molasses (4.0%), di-calcium phosphate and salt (1.0% each) and mineral and vitamin mixture (0.5% each) supplements at 3.5% of body weight to meet NRC (1981) requirements for protein, energy, macro minerals and micro minerals, excluding Cu. The basal diet contained 5.7 mg Cu/kg, 122.5 mg Fe/kg, 110 mg Zn/kg, 0.26 mg Mo/kg and 0.32% S. CuSO 4 or Cu-P was added to the basal diet at the rate of 10, 20 and 30 mg/kg. Kids were housed in a well ventilated shed with facilities for individual feeding in aluminum plated metabolic cages. Blood samples were collected from the jugular vein on d 0, 30, 60 and 90 to determine hemoglobin (Hb), packed cell volume (PCV), total erythrocyte count (TEC), total leukocyte count (TLC) and serum enzymes (alkaline phosphatase, alanine transferase and aspertate transferase). A metabolism trial of 6 days duration was conducted after 90 days of experimental feeding. Statistical analysis revealed that source and level of Cu supplementation improved live weight gain (p<0.04) and average daily gain (p<0.01). No significant contribution of source and level of Cu to alter serum serum enzymes was evident. Goats fed Cu-P tended to have higher Hb, PCV and TEC than with CuSO 4 supplementation. Cu-P increased digestibility of ether extract (EE, p<0.02) and crude fiber (p<0.05) and showed an increasing trend (p<0.09) for digested crude protein (CP) and crude fiber (CF). Supplemental dose of Cu linearly improved (p<0.02) digestibilities of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), EE and nitrogen free extract (NFE). Though the absorption of nitrogen (N) was not affected (p>0.10) by both source and dose of Cu, N retention was affected (p<0.04) and there was a significant Source×Dose interaction (p<0.05). Final body weight (BW) was not influenced (p>0.10) by the source of Cu but increasing dose of Cu increased (p<0.04) the BW of kids. TDN intake (g/kg W 0.75 ) was higher (p<0.05) with the increased dose of Cu and there was a significant Source×Dose interaction. It was concluded that supplementation of Cu from different sources and varying dose level in a concentrate based diet may improve performance, nutrient utilization and plane of nutrition in castrated Black Bengal kids. The effects on performance and nutrient utilization are more pronounced with Cu-P than CuSO 4 supplementation. Higher dose of Cu showed better result than lower dose.