Broiler Performance and Intestinal Alterations When Fed Drug-Free Diets

A study was carried out to investigate the effects of a drug-free feeding program on broiler performances. A total of 2,496 Cobb 500 chicks were randomly assigned to one of four dietary treatments with each group replicated 13 times. The four diets evaluated were: 1) negative control (NC): basal diet without growth promoter or coccidiostat; 2) positive control (PC): diet 1 + Lincomycin; 3) Program 1 (PG1): diet 1 + Bio-Mos®, Vegpro®, MTB-100®, Acid Pak 4-Way®, and All-Lac XCL®; 4) Program 2 (PG2): diet 1 + Bio-Mos® and All-Lac XCL®. Additives were used at commercially recommended rates. All chicks were vaccinated with a live oocyst coccidia vaccine on d 0 at the hatchery. Four phases of feeding were used during the trial with changes occurring at d 14, 28, and 35. Performance values measured were body weight, feed intake, yield, and mortality, while body weight gain and feed conversation rate (FCR) were calculated. Chicks were challenged with coccidia at d 14 to evaluate the protective effect of the feeding programs and coccidia vaccination. Segments of duodenum, ileum, and ceca were removed to measure intestinal morphology. Final body weight gains of birds on PC (2.736 kg) were greater (P < 0.05) compared to NC (2.650 kg), while birds on PG1 (2.681 kg) and PG2 (2.710 kg) were similar to positive and negative control. Overall, feed intake was similar across the treatments with the exception of period 2 (15 to 28 days) when birds consumed more (P < 0.05) of PC and PG1 compared to NC. Cumulative FCR at d 35 and 49 was improved (P < 0.05) in birds consuming PC and PG2 when compared to NC. Overall, birds consuming NC had greater mortality (P < 0.05; 12%) compared to PC (7.6 %), PG1 (4.6%) and PG2 (6.7 %) with most of the mortality occurring from d 0 to d 28. Mortality for birds consuming PG1 was also lower (P < 0.05) compared to the PC. There were no dietary effects on lesion scores or yields of processed products at d 42 (females) or d 49 (males). Interaction of dietary treatments with age and days of age alone showed effects (P < 0.0001) on the morphology of duodenum, ileum, and ceca. Lamina propria in ceca was thicker (P < 0.008) in birds consuming NC compared to PG1 and PG2. This study indicated that feeding birds without growth promoters resulted in greater mortality and decreased performance compared to using an antibiotic, while Bio-Mos® in combination with All-Lac XCL® helped to reduce the negative effects.