A Good Start to Achieve a Strong Finish

Melchior De Bruin, Van Der Horst & Morvarid Rezvani, Trouw Nutrition

The immediate post-hatching period is critical for chick development and ultimately, chick performance. Integrating nutrition, farm management and gut health can optimise chick performance, even when suboptimal conditions threaten production potential

Just as Olympic athletes begin their training early in life, successful poultry producers also rely on a solid start to achieve a strong finish. But unlike human champions, achieving outstanding poultry performance starts much earlier – in the hours and days post hatch.

A strong start begins with achieving baseline quality metrics. Measuring day-old chick (DOC) parameters such as weight, length, uniformity, naval quality and activity helps to optimise both broiler and layer production systems. These metrics serve as good predictive value indicators for first-week performance and provide feedback on hatchery procedures and parent stock health to incrementally improve chick quality.

With 24 hours of hatching, enterobacteria and streptococci colonise the bird’s caeca and expand to the rest of the intestinal tract. While the basic process of intestinal tract colonisation takes about three days, shifts and developments in the microbiome continue until well after two weeks of age. Developmental processes in the bird that build a healthy and functional microbiome encounter external and internal threats. For example, the first exposure to avian pathogenic
Escherichia coli (APEC) typically occurs in the hatchery and can potentially lead to high first-week mortality.

Functional diets for young birds

The first days of poultry production traditionally focus on technical management, which is widely recognised as the basis for a good start. In addition to technical management, the practice of providing specially-designed feed formulations for young animals, containing high quality raw materials and a tailored package of feed additives, is rapidly gaining in popularity. Young animal nutrition draws on the synergy between multiple modes of action uncovered by poultry scientists, to improve animal performance and reduce the need for antibiotics. A broad-spectrum approach includes improving chick’s gut integrity, actively steering gut microblome development, safeguarding against (clinical and subclinical) mycotoxins and endoctoxin exposure and efficiency enhancing digestion.

Mode of action drives benefits

Organic acids have long been used in feed and water to reduce or even eliminate pathogens before uptake by the animal and support processes in the gut. In young animals, gastric acid production does not always keep up with growth and development. Suboptimal nutrient digestion related to a higher gizzard pH and subsequent absorption challenges provide a good opportunity for organic acids to helplower the pH in the upper part of the digestive tract. Furthermore, both short chain fatty acid (SCFAs) and medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs) may act as antimicrobial agents in the animal. These offer both direct bacteriostatic or bactericidal effects and indirect benefits (by stimulating ‘good’ bacteria at the expense of pathogens or through addification of the bacterial environment and decreasing colonisation potential). Additionally, synergistic beneficial effects between SCFAs and MCFAs have been reported. Developed by Trouw Nutrition, Selacid Green Growth is a blend of free and buffered SCFAs combined with MCFAs. The functional feed additive has been shown to safeguard performance and deliver improved mechanisms to aid digestion and help manage gut health challenges.

Performance validated globally

An independent validation trial in the United Kingdom showed that this synergistic blend of SCFA and MCFA ingredients helped a broiler flock reared without any antibiotics achieve an impressive recovery following a troubled first week with a relative high morality (Table 1). A higher number of microbial genera has repeatedly been associated with greater gut health resilience and better livestock performance. Specific bacterial genera play different roles in the gastrointestinal tract, such as generating compounds for digestive support, strengthening gut wall integrity, developing host-defence mechanisms and reducing the colonisation of harmful bacteria through competitive exclusion. Different types of feed additives have demonstrated modes of action to help build or maintain a stable microbiome. Even at low levels, combinations of additives create synergies which contribute to improve efficiency.

Presan-FY, a combination of organic acids, medium chain fatty acids, slow release C12, target release butyrates and an encapsulated capsicum extract, has been shown to be effective in increasing microbial diversity in broilers. A trial in Spain evaluated the pyrosequencing profile of the microbial community in broiler jejunum and showed that Presan-FY increased microbiota diversity by 22%. In India, broilers fed Presan-FY in a trial had significantly reduced Escherichia coli counts while Clostridia tended to be reduced during the first three weeks of life. The findings indicated that the blend of ingredients is effective in helping birds maintain a stable micorbiota across various production phases. While broilers are commonly used as models to study the effect of various feed additives, research indicates that the benefits of feed additives extend to pullets, layers and broiler breeders, as well.

Improved performance equal to AGPs

An Australian study showed that Selacid Green Growth alleviated the impact of Clostridum perfringens and Eimeria (coccidiosis) challenges, delivering equal performance with an antibiotic growth promoter (AGP). These findings further illustrate the potential of specialised organic acid blends, even in antibiotic-free production environments. An early start to a healthy microbiome translates into improved performance throughout production. Another external validation trial demonstrated that FCR can significantly improve in Clostridum spp. and Eimeria spp.-challenged broilers fed this synergistic combination of organic acids, medium chain fatty acids, slow release C12, target release butyrates and an encapsulated capsicum extract, compared to broilers fed a standard diet without any AGPs (Figure 1).

Gold standard

Whether on the Olympic podium or on the poultry farm, a strong performance begins early. Together with the best possible technical and veterinary management, specialised high quality feeds containing blends of synergistic feed additives are becoming the gold standard for poultry production globally.