Broiler Poultry Poultry gut health Poultry nutrition

Effects on Performance and Gut Health of Ventar D Supplementation in Broiler Diets

2 Jan at 9:542 min read

Summary of study by Necmettin Ceylan, Sait Koca, Nejla Kahraman, Ankara University, Faculty of Agriculture, Animal Science, 6110 Ankara/Türkiye

The study conducted by Dr. Celyn et al. in 2023 focused on the impact of Ventar D supplementation in broiler diets on growth performance and gut health. The trial was carried out over six weeks on Ross 308 broiler chicks, comparing a control group with an experimental group supplemented with Ventar D. The trial feed was based on corn, soybean meal, wheat, sunflower meal, and poultry oil.

Key Findings

Growth Performance: The study demonstrated that Ventar D supplementation significantly improved body weight gain, feed consumption, feed conversion ratio (FCR) and EPEF during the starter, grower, and finisher periods. The overall performance of chickens fed with Ventar D was notably better, showing a 6.5% higher body weight and 1.67% better FCR compared to the control group.

Treatments	BWG, g	FCR	Corrected FCR2565	FI, g	Mortality,%	EPEF
Treatments	BWG, g	FCR	Corrected FCR2565	FI, g	Mortality,%	EPEF
Control	2520.6^a±32,77	1.620^a±0.006	1.629^a±0.011	4082.2^a±46.77	3.25±0.28	367.2^a±5.18
Ventar D	2684.3^b±23.65	1.593^b±0.010	1.568^b±0.015	4273.9^b±19.89	2.75±0.53	399.8^b±4.35

Different letters indicate significance; P ≤ 0.05

Liver Enzymes: The addition of Ventar D led to a significant decrease in serum Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels

Treatments	ALP	ALT
Control	286.70±54.98	1.505^a±0.390
Ventar D	301.50±87.19	0.832^b±0.181

Different letters indicate significance; P ≤ 0.05

Gut Health: Ventar D supplementation resulted in higher concentrations of short-chain volatile fatty acids (SCVFA) in the cecum.

	Acetate	Propionate	Butyrate	Isobutyrate	Valerate	Isovalerate	BCFA	Total SCFA
Control	27.22^a±1.26	8.21±0.38	7.24^a±0.41	0.848±0.078	0.964±0.043	0.881±0.054	2.69^a±0.12	45.36^a±1.53
Ventar D	30.51^b±0.80	9.36±0.56	8.86^b±0.44	0.878±0.070	1.121±0.077	0.993±0.031	2.99^b±0.08	51.73^b±1.32

Different letters indicate significance; P ≤ 0.05

Conclusion

Considering the results summarized in the tables above according to the feeding phases and the overall study (0-41 days): Ventar D supplementation of broiler feeds at the level of 100 g/ton significantly improved growth performance parameters during the starter, grower and finisher periods (P ≤ 0.05), and in the final results was stable at 6.5% higher BW and 1.67% better FCR compared to the control group. European Production Efficiency Factor (EPEF) was also significantly better than the control group (P ≤ 0.05).

In the study, liver enzyme and the concentration of short-chain volatile fatty acids also improved significantly with the addition of Ventar D, which may be attributed to the gut health related mode of action for Ventar D.