Effect of Nanoparticles Supplementation in Broiler Diets on Performance, Microbial Population and Digestive Tract Measurements

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of nanoparticles (silver and graphene) supplementation in broiler diets on productive performance, digestive tract and ceca length and microbiological analysis of small intestine and ceca contents. This study was designed to use silver nanoparticles (SNPs) (first experiment) or graphene nanoparticles (GNPs) (second experiment) with levels 0.0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5 and 10.0 ppm diet to compare between them. Each experiment included 200 Indian River (IR) broiler chicks at one day old divided randomly on 5 groups in 8 replicates. At 35 days, 4 birds were slaughtered to estimate digestive tract and ceca length and to perform microbiological analyses. All birds in two experiments were fed basal diets (control) supplemented with SNPs or GNPs at different levels till 5 weeks of age. Results of Exp.1 indicated a significant effect of different levels of SNPs on live body weight (LBW), body weight gain and feed intake (FI), while feed conversion ratio (FCR) was not affected. Lengths of digestive tract or ceca / 100 g LBW were insignificantly affected with different levels of SNPs. Microbiological analyses of small intestine and ceca content showed that Lactobacillus spp. increased significantly with increasing SNPs levels, while E. coli decrease significantly with increasing SNPs. Data of Exp.2 showed significant differences within values of live body weight, body weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio at 35 days with different levels of GNPs. The lengths of digestive tract or ceca / 100 g LBW were insignificantly decreased with increased level of GNPs. And, microbiological analyses of small intestine and cecum content showed that Lactobacillus spp. increased, and E. coli decreased significantly with increased GNPs levels. It could be concluded that there were no significant differences between the two types of nanoparticles (SNPs and GNPs) when supplemented in broiler diets on productive performance microbiological records of digestive tract.