<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>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&lt;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&lt;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&lt;0.05) lower-fat digestibility when LD diet with MCT, CB, and MCFA was used. The greatest value of nitrogen-corrected apparent metabolizable energy (AME<sub>N</sub>) was found on HD diet (P&lt;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 <italic>C. perfringens</italic> counts were lower on HD diet (P&lt;0.05). The addition of MCT and CB increased the count of lactic acid bacteria in caeca (P&lt;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).</p></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).

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

Department of Animal Breeding and Product Quality Assessment

Department of Animal Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Faculty of Animal Breeding and Biology

University of Technology and Life Sciences in Bydgoszcz

Department of Zoology, Institute of Zoology

Annals of Animal Science

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The present study aimed to determine the effect of diets supplemented by feed additives, on the growth performance and digestive tract functioning in chicken...

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

Published Online: May 12, 2022

Page range: 687 - 699

Received: Oct 27, 2020

Accepted: Jun 10, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/aoas-2021-0047

Keywords
chicken, Green-Legged Partridge hen, medium-chain fatty acids, calcium butyrate

© 2022 Katarzyna Perz et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

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

Published Online: May 12, 2022

Page range: 687 - 699

Received: Oct 27, 2020

Accepted: Jun 10, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/aoas-2021-0047

Keywordschicken, Green-Legged Partridge hen, medium-chain fatty acids, calcium butyrate

© 2022 Katarzyna Perz et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
chicken, Green-Legged Partridge hen, medium-chain fatty acids, calcium butyrate