Abstract
In our experiment, coconut and palm oil supplementation was added to the diet of broiler chickens to prove the hypothesis that medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs) can reduce the occurrence of potential pathogens (Clostridium perfingens, Coliform) in gut microflore and therefore improve bird welfare. Cobb 500 cockerels were divided in five groups. Control birds were fed commercial broiler diet, while birds in the four treatment group diets were supplemented with coconut, palm oil, or a combination of the two, respectively. As a positive control, sunflower oil supplementation was included in the diet of the fifth group. During the 28 days of the study (from 14 to 42 days of life), 5 samplings were scheduled, when excreta samples were taken from the litter to analyse total microbial count and the number of Clostridia, Coliforms, and Salmonella. According to the results of microbiological analysis, coconut oil supplementation led to the continuous decline of Clostridium perfringens numbers until they vanished by the end of the experimental period. A similar but faster decline was found as a result of palm oil and the combined (palm oil+coconut oil) treatment. However, the number of Coliforms and total microbial count changed only slightly by the end of the study. No Salmonella spp. was present in the samples throughout the experiment. Altogether, coconut and palm oil supplementation has a beneficial effect on the microbiological composition of poultry litter.
Highlights
Medium chain fatty acids (MCFA) are saturated fatty acids with 6 to 12 carbon atoms in their aliphatic chain
MCFAs are present in palm oil (8%) and cuphea oil, but in much lower proportions (Bhatnagar et al, 2009; Dayrit, 2015; Wang et al, 2015)
Birds were distributed among five groups with two replicates each, as follows: C, CO, PO, COPO and SO
Summary
Medium chain fatty acids (MCFA) are saturated fatty acids with 6 to 12 carbon atoms in their aliphatic chain. Natural MCFAs normally have a paired number of carbon atoms in their molecules, like caproic acid (C6:0), caprylic acid (C8:0), capric acid (C10:0), and lauric acid (C12:0). These acids are present in high proportion (60%) in coconut oil, which provides 10 per cent of the world’s kitchen oil production. The mechanism behind this process is still unknown (Kim & Rhee, 2013) Due to their generous antibacterial effect and natural origin, the use of MCFAs in human medicine, agricultural production, and food industry is more and more popular (Desbois & Smith, 2010). Based on the aforementioned literature data, our research studied further effects of different oil supplements on microbial composition of excrets in a broiler feeding experiment
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