Effect of dietary inclusion of butyric acid, multi-enzyme or their combination on growth performance, intestinal morphology and bone ash of tarsometatarsus and toe of broiler chickens

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of dietary inclusion of butyric acid, multi-enzyme or their combination on growth performance, intestinal morphology and bone ash percentage of tarsometatarsus and toe in broiler chickens. A total of 450 male broiler chicks (Ross 308) were randomly allocated in a completely randomized design with five treatments and six replicates and 15 birds in each replicate for 42 days. The experimental treatments consisted of T1) a positive control, T2) a negative control (low-nutrient; the concentration of nutrients was 5% lower than those of high-nutrient diets), T3) a negative control+ multiple-enzyme complex (Natuzyme Plus), T4) a negative control+ butyric acid (Baby C4) and T5) a negative control+ multiple-enzyme+ butyric acid. Average daily weight gain increased in positive control (T1) compared to other treatments (P<0.001) and T3, T4 and T5 treatments had higher average daily weight gain compared to T2 treatment. Feed conversion ratio in T1 treatment was lower than T2 treatment, but other treatments had no significant difference. The T4 treatment caused to increase relative ileum weight compared with other treatments (P<0.05). The T3 and T4 treatments caused to increase villus height compared to T2 treatment but differences were not significant. Also, T3 and T5 treatments caused to increase production index compared to T2 treatment (P<0.001). The higher nutritional profit in T1 and T3 treatments was observed compared to T2 treatment (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in percentage of bone ash between the treatments (P>0.05). In conclusion, the use of only multi-enzyme was advisable for improving growth performance, however, the use of combination of butyric acid and multi-enzyme supplements did not provide greater improvement in performance.