Journal Article

Impact of buffered sodium butyrate as a partial or total dietary alternative to lincomycin on performance, IGF-1 and TLR4 genes expression, serum indices, intestinal histomorphometry, Clostridia, and litter hygiene of broiler chickens

Attia, Taha, Hamza, Dalia, Bawish, Basma Mohamed, Kamel, Shaimaa, Ismael, Elshaimaa, Ahmed, Yasmine H., Zahran, Mohamed Farahat Selem, Fahmy, Khaled Nasr Eldin

2023

Overview

Background Sodium butyrate (SB) is a short-chain fatty acid and a safe antibiotic alternative. During 35 days, this study compared the impact of coated SB (Butirex C4) and lincomycin (Lincomix) on broiler growth, gut health, and litter hygiene in 1200 one-day-old Ross-308 broiler chicks that were randomly assigned into 5-dietary groups with 5-replications each. Groups divided as follows: T1: Basal diet (control), T2: Basal diet with buffered SB (1 kg/ton starter feed, 0.5 kg/ton grower-finisher feeds), T3: Basal diet with 100 g/ton lincomycin, T4: Basal diet with buffered SB (0.5 kg/ton starter feed, 0.25 kg/ton grower-finisher feeds) + 50 g/ton lincomycin, and T5: Basal diet with buffered SB (1 kg/ton starter feed, 0.5 kg/ton grower-finisher feeds) + 50 g/ton lincomycin. Birds were housed in a semi-closed deep litter house, where feed and water were available ad libitum. Results were statistically analyzed using ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc tests. Results Combined dietary supplementation with SB and lincomycin (T4 and T5) significantly enhanced body weights, weight gains, feed conversion ratio, and profitability index. Also, carcasses in T4 and T5 exhibited the highest dressing, breast, thigh, and liver yields. T5 revealed the best blood biochemical indices, while T3 showed significantly elevated liver and kidney function indices. T4 and T5 exhibited the highest expression levels of IGF-1 and TLR4 genes, the greatest villi length of the intestinal mucosa, and the lowest levels of litter moisture and nitrogen. Clostridia perfringens type A alpha-toxin gene was confirmed in birds’ caeca, with the lowest clostridial counts defined in T4. Conclusions Replacing half the dose of lincomycin (50 g/ton) with 0.5 or 1 kg/ton coated SB as a dietary supplement mixture showed the most efficient privileges concerning birds’ performance and health.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Nature Publishing Group,BMC
• Subject: Animal Anatomy / Animal Feed - analysis / Animals / Antibacterial agents / Antibiotics / Bacteria / Bacterial infections / Birds / blood serum / Body weight / Body weight gain / breasts / Butirex C4 / Butyric Acid - metabolism / Caecal Clostridia / cecum / Chickens / Clostridia / Clostridium / Costs (Law) / Diet / Diet - veterinary / Dietary Supplements / Dressing yield / Drug dosages / Economics / Efficiency / Esters / Experiments / Fatty acids / Feed additives / feed conversion / Feeds / Gene expression / Genes / Health aspects / Histology / Histomorphometry / Hygiene / Insulin-like growth factor I / Insulin-Like Growth Factor I - genetics / Insulin-like growth factors / intestinal mucosa / Intestine / Lincomix® 50 / Lincomycin / Lincomycin - pharmacology / Litter nitrogen / Litter size / Liver / Liver function / Medical research / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Microbiota / Morphology / nitrogen / Permeability / Poultry / profitability / Proteins / renal function / short chain fatty acids / Sodium butyrate / TLR4 protein / Toll-Like Receptor 4 / Toll-like receptors / Veterinary medicine / Veterinary Medicine/Veterinary Science / α-Toxin