A study was undertaken to investigate the effects of non-antibiotic additives—citric acid, synbiotics, and probiotics—administered through drinking water on broiler growth performance, carcass characteristics, and blood biochemical profiles. A total of 400 one-day-old Cobb 500 broiler chicks were randomly divided into four treatment groups: Control; no additives administered (CON); Citric acid @2.5 g/L water (CA); Synbiotic @0.2 g/L water (SB); Probiotic @0.5 g/L water (PB) and with each group having 4 replicates of 25 chicks. Growth performance metrics, such as body weight (BW), body weight gain (BWG), feed intake (FI), and feed conversion ratio (FCR), were recorded weekly. At the end of the trial, the probiotic-fed group had significantly higher BW (p = 0.018), BWG (p = 0.027), and an improved FCR (1.62) compared to the CON (1.74), CA (1.66), and SB (1.70) groups (p = 0.042). Biochemical parameters showed significant differences in total cholesterol (p = 0.013) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels (p = 0.039), with the PB group showing higher levels. These results suggest that citric acid, synbiotics, and probiotic additives provided through drinking water can enhance broiler growth performance, with probiotics offering the most promising benefits.

We conducted this experiment to establish a consistent result of dietary glucose oxidase (GOX) supplementation in broilers’ growth performance, nutrient digestibility, gas emission, caecum bacterial count, and antoxidant status. A total of 792 broilers of 42.38 ± 0.72 g average body weight (BW) at one-day old were fractionated into four treatment groups (18 birds/pen; 11 pens/treatment) named as 0%, Basal diet; 0.01%, basal diet + 100 mg/kg GOX; 0.02%, basal diet + 200 mg/kg GOX; 0.03%, basal diet + 300 mg/kg GOX. For growth performance, this 35 days’ experimental period was divided into three phases (d 1 to 7, d 7 to 21, d 22 to 35, overall). For the final phase, nutrient digestibility, gas emission, caecum bacterial count, and blood parameters were measured. GOX supplementation (0.02%, 0.03%) showed increased body weight gain (BWG) and reduced feed conversion ratio (FCR) during days 22 to 35 and in overall period. At the same time, linear increase of BWG and linear decrease of FCR were observed. Increasing doses of GOX showed linear improvement in dry matter digestibility and a tendency for a gradual increase in energy digestibility. On day 7, GOX supplementation (0.02%, 0.03%) reduced drip loss in meat with a gradual decrease. Blood antioxidant parameters of glutathione peroxidase (GSSG) and glutathione (GSH) were linearly increased by rising doses of GOX where 0.03% GOX had the highest value. In short, GOX supplementation brought improvements in digestibility and antioxidant capacity, which helped to increase body weight gain in broilers.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcome of sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate (SSL) supplementation to energy reduced diets on broilers’ growth performance, apparent nutrient digestibility, excreta bacterial counts, and blood lipid profile. A total of 700 one-day-old male (feather sexed) Ross 308 broiler chickens having an average body weight of 43 ± 1.2 g were randomly allotted to five (5) dietary treatments (7 pens/treatment). The treatments consisted of: (1) positive control (PC) (basal diet with metabolisable energy, ME = 3000 kcal/kg starter; 3100 kcal/kg grower; 3200 kcal/kg finisher), (2) negative control (NC) (PC − 50 kcal/kg), (3) SSL1, NC + 0.03% SSL, (4) SSL2, NC + 0.04% SSL, (5) SSL3, NC + 0.05% SSL. The PC group showed higher BWG (body weight gain) and lower FCR (feed conversion ration) than the NC group during days 1 to 7, and 7 to 21. SSL supplemented groups showed higher BWG and better FCR than the NC group, along with a linear increase in BWG and linear decrease in FCR during days 1 to 7 and 7 to 21. Furthermore, a linear increase in overall BWG was observed with SSL doses. Excreta microbial counts were not influenced by energy levels or SSL doses. In blood serum parameters, LDL (low density lipoprotein) cholesterol was reduced with a linear tendency by increasing levels of SSL supplementation. In conclusion, sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate supplementation showed better growth and nutrient digestibility in broilers’ at an early age.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of increasing dietary crude protein (CP) concentration on growth performance, rumen characteristics, blood metabolites, and methane (CH4) emissions in finishing Hanwoo steers.Methods: Twenty-four 26-month-old Hanwoo steers (717±50.1 kg) were utilized in a 12-week study based on a completely randomized block design. The animals were randomly assigned to one of four dietary treatments by feeding concentrate mixes with different CP levels (15.0%, 16.2%, 17.5%, and 18.5% on a dry matter [DM] basis). Forage was fed ad libitum, while the concentrate mix was provided in a fixed amount.Results: Forage and total dry matter intake (DMI) linearly increased (p≤0.029) with increasing CP levels while concentrate intake was not affected by treatments. Initial and final body weight and average daily gain were not different among treatments. Feed efficiency showed a trend of linear decrease (p = 0.092) with increasing CP levels. Rumen parameters, including ruminal pH, total volatile fatty acid, molar proportions of acetate, propionate, isobutyrate, butyrate, isobutyrate, valerate, and acetate to propionate ratio, were not affected by treatments. Treatments also did not affect blood concentrations of total protein, urea, glucose, non-esterified fatty acid, albumin, creatinine, triglyceride, glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase, glutamic pyruvic transaminase, calcium, and phosphorus. Concentrations of CH4 from respiration or eructation were not affected by dietary CP. CH4 ppm per DMI and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) intake was not also different among treatment in respiration or eructation. However, CH4 ppm per forage NDF intake linearly decreased (p≤0.005) with increasing CP from both respiration and eructation.Conclusion: These findings provide no clear evidence that increasing the CP content of the concentrate mix from 15.0% to 18.5% DM improves growth performance and body metabolism in finishing Hanwoo steers. Nevertheless, they suggest that a higher CP level may negatively affect feed efficiency.