Effects of butyrins and valerins on growth and slaughter performance of yellow feather broilers

Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) have multiple functions on gut health, including supporting intestinal epithelial cells as energy sources, strengthening gut barrier function, regulating immune response and developing skeletal muscle (Martin-Gallausiaux et al., 2021; Liu et al., 2021). Among the different SCFAs, butyric acid is the most studied. Previous research has demonstrated that butyric acid can provide approximately 70% of the total energy consumption of the colonocyte (Roediger, 1982). Valeric acid is naturally present in the lower intestinal tract. Compared with butyric and valeric acid or salt, butyrin and valerin have less odor problem and are more and more common used in animal feed. However, there is limited knowledge about the synergic effect of butyrins and valerins on yellow feather broiler growth and slaughter performance.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of a synergic combination of butyrin and valerin (Gastrivix™ Avi) on yellow feather broilers. A total of 1,680 one-day-old Datu yellow feather broilers were randomly assigned into two dietary treatment groups (each treatment had six replicates with 140 birds) and fed either a non-supplemented diet or a diet supplemented with Gastrivix™ Avi (500, 500 and 250 g/MT in starter, grower and finisher phases as manufacturer recommended). Feed consumption and body weight of the birds were recorded at 63 days of age. On day 63, 12 birds (2 birds/replicate) were randomly selected from each treatment and euthanized by cervical dislocation for slaughter performance analysis.

A significant improvement in overall FCR was observed comparing the Gastrivix™ Avi supplemented group with the control group. The FCR was 3 points lower for the broilers that received the butyrin/valerin combination in the diet (P =0.007) compared to non-supplemented broilers. Numerically higher dressing yield at day 63 was observed with supplementation of the butyrin/valerin combination compared with the control group. It was also noticed that abdominal fat weight at day 63 was numerically lower by 7.87 g/bird with the supplementation of the combination of butyrin and valerin in comparison to the non-supplemented group. In conclusion, butyrin/valerin combination at the recommendation dosage could improve the yellow feather broiler growth performance. Results suggest that butyrin/valerin combination could have an impact on the lipid metabolism in the animal which would explain the tendency to decrease the abdominal fat (P=0.07), however further studies would be needed to confirm this theory.