Effect of organic acids supplementation in diets with different levels of nutrients on performance, ileum microbial population and carcass characteristics of broiler chickens

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of different levels of nutrients and organic acids supplementation (Biotronic) on performance, ileum microbial populations and blood parameters of broiler chickens. Three hundred broiler chicks (Cobb500 strain, of both sex) were allotted to 6 treatments and 5 replications in completely randomized design with factorial arrangement of 2×3 and 30 experimental units. Factors included two levels of organic acid supplementation (diets containing 0.1% organic acid supplementation and diets without organic acid supplementation) and three levels of nutrients (standard levels of Cobb recommendation, 2.5% and 5% below than that). The interaction between organic acid and different dietary nutrient levels was not significant in any of the traits. Using organic acids supplementation increased growth performance at first 21 days (P<0.05). Different levels of nutrients in diet had no significant effects on growth performance. Feed intake was not affected by dietary treatments. Organic acids supplementation improved feed conversion ratio (P<0.05), whereas this trait was not affected by different levels of dietary nutrients. Organic acids decreased total bacteria counts of ileum (P<0.05). Microbial population was similar in different levels of nutrients group. Organic acids supplementation had no effects on blood metabolites and carcass composition of the broiler chicks. To sum up, feed formulation up to 5% less than Cobb500 broiler chicken nutrients recommendation had no negative significant effect on production performance of the chickens. Also, the use of dietary organic acid supplement resulted in an improvement in some productive traits especially in starter phase of growth period.