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

Abstract

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 (p < 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 C. perfringens counts. Similar effects to the previous experiment were observed for cecum microbiota.

The biological effects of microencapsulated organic acids and botanicals induces tissue-specific and dose-dependent changes to the Gallus gallus microbiota

“…There are numerous studies by our laboratory and others highlighting the bene t of using encapsulated ingredients for targeted release in the poultry GIT [10,21,27,[29][30][31][32][33][34]. In a previous study, the blend of organic acids and botanicals evaluated herein enhanced gut immune and barrier function in the ileum and jejunum of weaned pigs [32].…”

“…Beta diversity indicates there may be compositional differences that are arising, with Bray-Curtis being a function of total assessment and the Weighted Unifrac Distance Matrix considering phylogenetic branch length and both are considered qualitative as total reads and counts leading to the differences are not considered [16]. Dietary supplementation with natural compounds including organic acids and essential oils does not always result in changes to alpha and beta diversity in microbial populations within the poultry GIT [10]. However, the blend of organic acids and botanicals used in the current study, produced an increase in diversity and evenness for the jejunum compared to the ileum.…”

“…Similarly, supplementation with eugenol, an essential oil, increased members of the Clostridiales order in mice that proved protective against pathogenic challenge [46]. There are a number of studies employing supplementation with natural products including organic acids and phytochemicals that show improvements to intestinal integrity as well as protecting against the pathology and loss of performance associated with necrotic enteritis in broilers [10,24,34,47]. Future challenge trials will be conducted to determine if the blend of organic acids and botanicals used herein confers protective effects against Clostridium perfringens and necrotic enteritis.…”

“…Additionally, essential oils and other natural compounds are generally regarded as safe and can be multi-modal in their activation effects including antimicrobial, insecticidal, therapeutic, anti-in ammatory, and chemotherapeutic properties [1,6,7]. There are numerous recent reviews highlighting natural compounds for their potential to serve as antibiotic alternatives including, but not limited to, cinnamon [8], oregano [9], organic acids [10,11] and others [12].…”

“…Organic acids also show promise as feed amendments in poultry [11]. Dietary supplementation with benzoic acid in uences gut microbial populations [27], and the addition of organic acids and essential oils improves performance and increases disease resistance [10], while propionic and formic acid supplementation improves carcass traits [28].…”