The effect of different medium-chain fatty acids, calcium butyrate, and salinomycin on performance, nutrient utilization and gastrointestinal tract of chicken of Polish Green-Legged Partridge hen

Abstract

Abstract The present study aimed to determine the effect of diets supplemented by feed additives, on the growth performance and digestive tract functioning in chicken of Green-Legged Partridge hen (GLPH). Two types of diets were used. Both the “low-digestible” (LD) diet characterized by high level of crude fiber and lard, and the “high-digestible” (HD) diet characterized by low content of crude fiber and soybean oil were supplemented by different additives such as 0.34% DM (dry matter) salinomycin, 0.30% DM medium-chain triglycerides (MCT), 1.00% DM calcium butyrate (CB), or 0.85% DM medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA). The experiment was conducted on 960 one-day-old male chickens of GLPH, randomly divided into 10 treatment groups. One group consisted of 12 replications (each with 8 birds). Chickens fed HD diet presented significantly higher body weight gain (BWG) in 15–56 days and also 0–56 days of experiment and lower feed conversion ratio (FCR) during whole time (0–56 days) of experiment (P<0.05). Addition of CB and MCFA did not affect the differences in BWG (15–56; 0–56 days) and FCR (15–56 days) in comparison with the control diet. Significant interaction between the type of diet and additives (P<0.05) was observed for feed intake (FI) throughout the experiment. The highest FI was found on LD diet with CB. On LD diet, all additives resulted in significantly worse nitrogen retention, however, on HD diet, it was observed only for salinomycin. The additives had no impact on fat digestibility when chickens were fed HD diet. There was significant (P<0.05) lower-fat digestibility when LD diet with MCT, CB, and MCFA was used. The greatest value of nitrogen-corrected apparent metabolizable energy (AMEN) was found on HD diet (P<0.05). The addition of MCT, CB, and MCFA increased the percentage share of ileum, and MCT also significantly increased the percentage share of the liver. The lactic acid bacteria and C. perfringens counts were lower on HD diet (P<0.05). The addition of MCT and CB increased the count of lactic acid bacteria in caeca (P<0.05). Many interactions between experimental factors in this experiment showed that the efficacy of using different feed additives depends on the type of diet. The results suggest that MCFA may be the most beneficial feed additive for GLPH chicken as an alternative for antibiotic growth promoters (AGP).