The effect of diet acidified with hydrochloric and butyric acids on performance of female broiler chickens

The aim of this experiment was to study the effects of hydrochloric and butyric acids addition to broiler diets on performance, carcass characteristics, intestinal microbial population and intestinal histology. Two hundred eighty Ross 308 one-day old female broiler chicks were assigned to 7 dietary treatments and 4 replicates of 10 chicks in a completely randomized design. Experimental treatments consisted of dietary addition of 2 levels of hydrochloric acid (1.5 and 3 percent), 2 levels of butyric acid (0.2 and 0.4 percent) and 2 levels of the acids mixture (1.5 0.4 and 3 0.2 percent) and a treatment with no acid supplementation as control group. Dietary hydrochloric and butyric acids during grower period decreased average body weight, significantly (P