Evaluation of a monoglyceride blend on broiler performance during necrotic enteritis challenge in battery cages

The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of an Eastman monoglyceride blend on broiler performance under a 25-day necrotic enteritis challenge model in battery cages. A total of 320 one-day old male Cobb broilers were obtained from a local hatchery and randomly distributed into 4 groups with 10 chicks per cage and 8 replicates per treatment: (1) non-challenged control (NCC); (2) challenged control (CC); (3) challenged control + 500 mg/kg monoglyceride blend (low-dose); (4) challenged control + 1,000 mg/kg monoglyceride blend (high-dose). Upon arrival, groups 2-4 were orally inoculated with 2.0 x 10⁷ CFU/0.25 mL/bird Salmonella Typhimurium. On d 18, the challenged group birds were orally inoculated with ~2,000 Eimeria maxima oocysts/1 mL/bird, followed by Clostridium perfringens on d 22 (1.0 x 10⁸ CFU/1 mL/bird) and d 23 (1.3 x 10⁷ CFU/1 mL/bird). Total cage and feed weights were assessed on d 7, 14, 18, and 25. On d 25, 20 chicks per treatment (2-3 birds per cage) were randomly selected to evaluate intestinal lesion scores. Data were analyzed by ANOVA model with significance deemed at p < 0.05. Means were separated using Tukey’s HSD test. On d 14, results showed that the monoglyceride blend at the high-dose (FCR = 1.179) numerically improved the FCR compared to the CC (FCR = 1.296). From d 1 to 25, chicks from the CC (FCR = 1.645) had significantly higher FCR than the NCC (FCR = 1.403), and monoglyceride blend at both low- (FCR = 1.546) and highdose (FCR = 1.531) significantly improved the cumulative FCR compared to the CC (FCR = 1.645). Additionally, monoglyceride blend at high-dose also showed significantly higher BW gain compared to the CC group on d 25. However, no significant differences were observed for intestinal lesion scores between treatments. Adding the monoglyceride blend at both 500 mg/kg and 1,000 mg/kg significantly improved 25 d FCR and improved BW gain under the necrotic enteritis challenge used in the present study.

Key Words: monoglyceride blend, growth, coccidiosis, necrotic enteritis, broiler.