Effect of organic acids on growth performance, intestinal morphology, and immunity of broiler chickens with and without coccidial challenge

Abstract

A total of 360-day-old broiler chicks were allocated into six groups in 2 (Coccidial challenge or not) × 3 (dietary treatments) factorial design. Three dietary treatments including: basic diet, basic diet plus organic acids (OAs) in drinking water, and basic diet plus OAs in the feed with and without coccidial challenge. The OAs in water or feed improved (P < 0.01) average body weight (ABW), average body weight gain (ABWG), and feed conversion ratio (FCR) as compared with the control diet during starter, grower, and whole experimental period. Coccidial challenge decreased BW, ABWG, and average feed intake (AFI), as well as resulted in poor FCR during the starter and whole experimental period (P < 0.05). Though there was no interaction between OAs supplementation and coccidial challenge, the OAs supplementation improved the overall performance with and without coccidial challenge birds on 21 d and 35 d. IgG was found higher (P = 0.03) in broilers fed OAs in feed without the coccidial challenge group. On 18 d, OAs supplementation in feed increased TNF-γ (P = 0.006), whereas the coccidial challenge decreases TNF-γ (P = 0.01) and IL-10 (P = < .0001), and increases IgM (P = 0.03), IgG (P = 0.04) and IgA (P = 0.02). On 29 d, the coccidial challenge increases IgM and IgA. On 18 d, jejunal lesion score was found significantly higher in the coccidial challenged group as compared to OAs supplementation with coccidial challenged groups on 18 d (P < 0.0001) and 29 d (P = 0.03). Crypt depth was higher, and Villus-height to Crypt depth ratio was lower in the coccidial challenge group on 18 and 29 d. The Goblet cells were found higher in the non-coccidial challenge on 18 d. After 18 d, 16S rDNA gene sequence analysis of ileal chyme has shown that coccidial challenge decreases Lactobacillus_reuteri species as compared to the non-challenged group (P = 0.02). After 29, Cyanobacteria abundance reduced (P = 0.014) in the challenged group than the non-challenged group at the phylum level. At the genus level, Lactobacillus (P = 0.036) and unidentified Cyanobacteria (P = 0.01) were found higher in the non-challenged group than the coccidial challenge group. The results indicate that the OAs supplementation showed improved responses in a pattern similar to the non-challenged control group by neutralizing the negative effects of the coccidial challenge.

Effects of dietary organic acids and probiotics on laying performance, egg quality, serum antioxidants and expressions of reproductive genes of laying ducks in the late phase of production

“…Organic acids were demonstrated to improve the health of young broilers by enhance the immune system ( Dittoe et al, 2018 ). Broiler chicks fed with dietary organic acids showed higher serum IgG concentration ( Mustafa et al, 2021 ). Contrastingly, here we observed a decline in serum IgA and IgG contents of laying ducks fed diet with organic acid mixture.…”

Effect of benzoic acid, Enterococcus faecium, and essential oil complex on intestinal microbiota of laying hens under coccidia and Clostridium perfringens challenge

“…Our findings were similar to many studies, which also determined that coccidia and C. perfringens challenged significantly increased duodenum and jejunum lesions scores ( Attia et al, 2012 ; Rodrigues et al, 2017 ; Gharib-Naseri et al, 2019 ). Mustafa et al (2021) indicated that the dietary supplementation with organic acids in coccidial challenged group could improve intestinal health, and reduce intestinal lesions scores of broiler chickens. Another study showed that adding 120 mg/kg of essential oils (thymol and carvacrol) after C. perfringes challenged significantly reduced lesions scores in chickens ( Yin et al, 2017 ).…”

Bioactive compounds, antibiotics and heavy metals: Effects on the intestinal structure and microbiome of monogastric animals – a non-systematic review

“…Moreover, piglets from the benzoic acid group showed a higher concentration of acetate, propionate, butyrate and all short-chain fatty acids in the ileum or cecum. The mix of organic acid administered to chicks with coccidiosis mitigated pathological lesions in the jejunum, decreased the depth of crypts and increased the villi height/crypt depth ratio (Mustafa et al, 2021). Sodium butyrate administered orally to Cobb broiler chickens that received an intraperitoneal injection of lipopolysaccharide at a dose of 500 μg/kg, inhibited the reduction of the villous height in the duodenum and ileum caused by a stress factor (Xiong et al, 2018).…”