Effect of a Combination of Propionic-Acetic Acid on Body Weight, Relative Weight of Some Organs, Lactic Acid Bacteria and Intestinal pH of Neonatal Broilers

A Gonzalez,K Perez,A Botello,Y Martínez

doi:10.1590/1806-9061-2020-1252

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study was designed to determine the effect of a combination of propionic-acetic acid on body weight, the relative weight of some organs, lactic acid bacteria, and intestinal pH of neonatal broilers. A total of 60 1-day-old Ross 308® broiler chickens were randomly placed in metabolic cages to two treatments, three replicates, and ten birds per replicates. The treatments consisted of a control diet (CD) and CD + 0.03% of propionic acid and acetic acid in the drinking water at a rate of 4 ml/L of water. The combination of organic acids depressed the body weight in neonatal broilers (p 0.05) between treatments. The combined use in the diet and drinking water of the propionic and acetic organic acids, respectively, reduced the bodyweight of neonatal broilers (10 days) and the cecal pH, as well as modified the relative weights of some digestive organs and the growth of some morphological groups of lactic acid bacteria.

Highlights

In recent years, global chicken production has been influenced by a growing demand due to the increase in the world population and the greater need for this animal protein, which is cheaper than red meat (FAO, 2017)
The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of a combination of propionic-acetic acid on body weight, the relative weight of some organs, lactic acid bacteria, and intestinal pH of neonatal broilers
The treatments consisted of a control diet (CD) and CD + 0.30% of propionic acid and the addition of acetic acid in the drinking water at a proportion of 4 mL in a liter of water according to commercial house recommendations

Summary

Introduction

Global chicken production has been influenced by a growing demand due to the increase in the world population and the greater need for this animal protein, which is cheaper than red meat (FAO, 2017). For 2020, the production was projected to reach 100.5 million tons of chicken meat, despite the global trade in meat being trimmed due to emerging threats from the spread of the COVID-19 virus, which makes this item an important part of world food production (USDA, 2020). In order to cover the demand, the poultry industry has technified and intensified its processes; this has caused an increase in the susceptibility, incidence and severity of bacterial diseases, attributed to the lack of biosecurity measures and the easy propagation of them under intensive conditions (Saleem et al 2015).

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