Effect of organic acids supplementation on some gastrointestinal tract characteristics and small intestine morphology of broiler chickens

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of organic acid supplementation on some characteristics of gastrointestinal tract and small intestinal morphology in male Ross 308 broiler chicks for 42 days. The study was completely randomized design with 4 treatments, 4 replicates and 8 chicks per each replicate. The treatments consisted of: T1: basal diet, T2: basal diet + 0.1% organic acid supplementation, T3: basal diet + 0.2% organic acid supplementation, T4: basal diet + 0.3% organic acid supplementation. The results showed that the relative weight and relative length of different parts of gastrointestinal tract were not significantly affected by experimental treatments (P>0.05). About acidity of different parts of gastrointestinal tract, the result showed that pH of proventriculus by treatment receiving 0.1% organic acid supplementation and pH of duodenum by treatment receiving 0.2% organic acid supplementation were, significantly decreased (P<0.05). Villous height in jejunum and ileum by use of 0.2% organic acid supplementation were significantly increased (P<0.05). Villous height to crypt depth ratio, in jejunum and ileum were significantly increased by consumption of 0.2% organic acid supplementations (P<0.05). Muscularis thickness in jejunum by treatment receiving 0.2% and 0.3% organic acid supplementations were significantly decreased (P<0.05). The results obtained from this experiment showed that the use of 0.2% organic acid supplementation have beneficial effect on small intestinal morphology of broiler chickens.