Effect of Formic Acid and Plant Extracts on Growth, Nutrient Digestibility, Intestine Mucosa Morphology, and Meat Yield of Broilers

By V. García, P. Catalá-Gregori, F. Hernández, M. D. Megías, J. Madrid. 2007

413 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract The effect of formic acid and 2 plant extracts on performance traits, apparent ileal digestibility (AID), intestine mucosa morphology, and meat yield of broilers was studied in a 49-d experiment. There were 6 treatments: a negative control diet without additives (control); 10 ppm of avilamycin; 5,000 of formic acid; 10,000 ppm of formic acid; 200 ppm of plant extract based on a blend of oregano, cinnamon, and pepper essential oil; and 5,000 ppm of hydroalcoholic plant extract from sage, thyme, and rosemary leaves. A total of 312 Ross chicks were distributed into 24 groups of 13 in each, comprising 4 replicates per treatment. The performance data revealed significantly better FCR in all the supplemented diets except for the 5,000 ppm of hydroalcoholic plant extract diet. All additives improved AID of nutrients. Both acidifier inclusion levels improved villus height, and the group fed the 10,000 ppm of formic acid diet also had the greatest crypt depth; however, villus surface area was not influenced. Meat yield was not affected. It was concluded that the diets with 5,000 and 10,000 ppm of formic acid, and with 200 ppm of plant extract based on a blend of oregano, cinnamon, and pepper essential oils were similar to avilamycin and were beneficial for improving growth traits and nutrient AID. Furthermore, a positive effect of formic acid on intestine mucosa was observed. This experiment involved a small sample, so the additives that showed beneficial effects should be further studied in commercial farms.

Subfields: Animal Science and Zoology, Food Science, Plant Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/9fb1d78236458b2fbd456fc810ec1e0b87f84b6b

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In Animal Science and Zoology

1. S. Khan
2. Javid Iqbal
3. Y. Yang
4. P. Iji
5. M. Choct
6. C. Ruiz-Feria
7. S. Świątkiewicz
8. J. Koreleski

In Food Science

1. C. Ruiz-Feria
2. S. Khan
3. Javid Iqbal
4. Y. Yang
5. P. Iji
6. M. Choct

In Plant Science

1. C. Ruiz-Feria
2. S. Khan
3. Javid Iqbal
4. Y. Yang
5. P. Iji
6. S. Świątkiewicz
7. J. Koreleski
8. M. Choct

Citations in the corpus

• Dietary modulation of gut microflora in broiler chickens: a review of the role of six kinds of alternatives to in-feed antibiotics (2009, background): “…the intestinal populations of E. coli (Jamroz et al., 2003; Jang et al., 2007) and increased digestive enzymes in either pancreas and/or intestinal mucosa (Lee et al., 2003; Jang et al., 2007); however intestinal mucosal morphology was not affected by EO supplementation (Garcia et al., 2007).”
• Phytogenic additives and organic acids in broiler chicken diets (2012, result): “…of additivefree diets resulted in lower GEMC, DMMC and NMC, the additives tested showed no differences for the metabolic coefficients, confirming García et al. (2007), who, studying the supplementation of formic acid and plant extracts, did not observe metabolic differences in comparison with…”
• Effect of Dietary Supplementation of Organic Acids on Performance, Nutrients Digestibility and Health of Broiler Chicks (2011, background): “Garcia et al. (2007) noted higher villi height in duodenum and jejunum with 5,000 or 10,000 ppm FA added to broiler diets.”
• Growth performance, digestibility, immune response and intestinal morphology of male broilers fed phosphorus deficient diets supplemented with microbial phytase and organic acids (2013, background): “Furthermore, it has been reported that addition of formic acid improves apparent ileal digestibility of nutrients in broilers (García et al., 2007; Hernández et al., 2006).”
• Effects of phenyllactic acid on production performance, egg quality parameters, and blood characteristics in laying hens (2009, result): “Previous studies have shown that organic acids exerted an antimicrobial effect in the gastrointestinal tract and improved the FCR of broilers [21–23].”
• Recent advances in the role of organic acids in poultry nutrition (2016, background): “Moreover, Hernández et al. (2006) and Garciá et al. (2007) reported that supplementation of formic acid (0.5% or 1.0”
• Laying performance and eggshell quality in laying hens fed diets supplemented with prebiotics and organic acids. (2018, background): “…can probably be attributed to an increased availability of Ca and P, brought about by a decrease in pH in the upper part of the intestinal tract and the stimulating effect of organic acids on the villus height, which was observed in broilers by Garcia et al. (2007) and Senkoylu et al. (2007).”