Effect of Mixed Organic Acids and Multivitamins Supplementation Program in Drinking Water of Broilers Raised under Opened House Conditions

Abstract

The research aims to study the effect of mixed organic acids and multivitamins supplementation program in drinking water of broilers raised under opened house conditions on performance, carcass characteristics and caecal bacteria counts of broilers. This study was conducted on 7-days-old male chicks and a total of 160 broiler chicks were randomly divided into 4 groups of 4 replicates with 10 birds/replicate. Four treatments were as follows: Group 1 had no added feed additive (CO; control), Group 2 took organic acids (OA) added into drinking water at 1 ml/L, Group 3 was supplemented with vitamins (VM) at 1 g/L, during 7 to 35 days of age. VM and OA were added to Group 4 from 7 to 21 days of age and from 22 to 35 days of age, respectively. All birds received commercial feed throughout the experiment until 42 days old. The results revealed that the VO group had a higher final weight than the control group, and the VM groups (P<0.01). All of the broilers that received drinking water supplements showed higher body weight gain (WG) and production index (PI) than those in the control group (P<0.01). The carcass percentages and carcass quality of all groups were not significantly different (P>0.05), but the spleen percentages of the OA and VO groups were higher than the other groups (P<0.05). Adding organic acids and vitamins in the drinking water resulted in the broiler chickens having significantly higher lactic acid bacteria than the control group (P<0.01). The VO and OA groups had significantly higher returns on investment than the control group (P<0.01). Therefore, under opened house conditions, the supplementation of VM at 7 to 21 days of age and OA at 22 to 35 days of age, respectively, in drinking water resulted in the best production index and return of investment. Also E. coli concentration in caeca reduced in the broilers.