«The effect of dietary manipulations on gastrointestinal health in broiler chickens»
The primary objective of the project «Rearing broiler chickens without in-feed anticoccidials» (NFR 244635) is to provide knowledge needed to ensure a sustainable rearing of Norwegian broiler chickens without use of in-feed anticoccidials. Financial support is provided by the Research Funding for Agriculture and the Food Industry, Animalia, Nortura, Felleskjøpet Fôrutvikling, Norgesfôr and Fiskå Mølle. The current experiment is a part of Silje Granstad’s PhD work associated with this project. It will take place in a research facility at Scandinavian Poultry Research in Våler/Solør.
The objective of the experiment is to investigate how specific dietary manipulations affect parameters of gastrointestinal health in broiler chickens. The experiment is designed to study the effects of two different dietary manipulations; reduced level of starch in the diet and inclusion of an in-feed cellulose-acetate-butyrate product. The goal is to determine the influence of starch:fat-ratio and a product consisting of cellulose, acetate and butyrate on gastrointestinal health and production performance in broiler chickens.
The chickens will be exposed to an intestinal challenge inducing mild intestinal injury. They will be given a 10-fold overdose of live anticoccidial vaccine (Paracox-5) in the drinking water once during the 3rd week of age. This exposure is expected to induce a mild intestinal affection in terms of subclinical necrotic enteritis in a maximum of 5-15 % of birds examined during the 4th week. The challenge model is well established and has been used in several previous experiments (FOTS id 7721 and 8179). This challenge is chosen because it is expected to give a significant increase of intestinal Clostridium perfringens counts without inducing clinical symptoms or notable discomfort.
Results from the experiment will provide more knowledge on the interplay between diet and gastrointestinal health in broiler chickens. To ensure a sustainable rearing of broiler chickens without use of in-feed anticoccidials, the industry must consider compensatory measures in order to maintain proper health and welfare status. Increased knowledge on dietary factors related to gastrointestinal health in broiler chickens is therefore useful from an animal health and welfare perspective.
No methods of in vitro investigation of the complex interplay between diet and different parameters of gastrointestinal health in broiler chickens are available, and thus it must be studied in vivo. A total number of 260 Ross 308 broiler chickens from 5 different treatment groups will be euthanized humanely on given days. Intestinal specimens will be sampled from these idividuals. This represents sampling of 13 chickens per treatment group per sampling time. We have estimated the minimum number of birds required for valid conclusions in the current experiment based on previous experiments with similar experimental design. The chickens will be housed in a research facility under conditions similar to Norwegian broiler chickens farms. They will be inspected daily, and individuals with signs of distress, illness or injury will be euthanized humanely.
The objective of the experiment is to investigate how specific dietary manipulations affect parameters of gastrointestinal health in broiler chickens. The experiment is designed to study the effects of two different dietary manipulations; reduced level of starch in the diet and inclusion of an in-feed cellulose-acetate-butyrate product. The goal is to determine the influence of starch:fat-ratio and a product consisting of cellulose, acetate and butyrate on gastrointestinal health and production performance in broiler chickens.
The chickens will be exposed to an intestinal challenge inducing mild intestinal injury. They will be given a 10-fold overdose of live anticoccidial vaccine (Paracox-5) in the drinking water once during the 3rd week of age. This exposure is expected to induce a mild intestinal affection in terms of subclinical necrotic enteritis in a maximum of 5-15 % of birds examined during the 4th week. The challenge model is well established and has been used in several previous experiments (FOTS id 7721 and 8179). This challenge is chosen because it is expected to give a significant increase of intestinal Clostridium perfringens counts without inducing clinical symptoms or notable discomfort.
Results from the experiment will provide more knowledge on the interplay between diet and gastrointestinal health in broiler chickens. To ensure a sustainable rearing of broiler chickens without use of in-feed anticoccidials, the industry must consider compensatory measures in order to maintain proper health and welfare status. Increased knowledge on dietary factors related to gastrointestinal health in broiler chickens is therefore useful from an animal health and welfare perspective.
No methods of in vitro investigation of the complex interplay between diet and different parameters of gastrointestinal health in broiler chickens are available, and thus it must be studied in vivo. A total number of 260 Ross 308 broiler chickens from 5 different treatment groups will be euthanized humanely on given days. Intestinal specimens will be sampled from these idividuals. This represents sampling of 13 chickens per treatment group per sampling time. We have estimated the minimum number of birds required for valid conclusions in the current experiment based on previous experiments with similar experimental design. The chickens will be housed in a research facility under conditions similar to Norwegian broiler chickens farms. They will be inspected daily, and individuals with signs of distress, illness or injury will be euthanized humanely.