Effects of cereal type, enzyme and sodium butyrate addition on growth performance, carcass traits and intestinal morphology of broilers

A 2 × 2 × 2 factorial arrangement was conducted to evaluate the effects of cereal type (corn vs. wheat), enzyme supplementation (0 or 0.4 g/kg diet), and sodium butyrate addition (0 or 2 g/kg diet) on growth performance, carcass traits and intestinal morphology of male broilers from 10 to 42 d. A total of 600 male Arbor Acres chickens were assigned to eight dietary treatments in a completely randomized design, providing five replicate pens per treatment. Diets were formulated to meet or exceed NRC nutrient recommendations. When compared with birds fed corn-based diets, chickens fed wheat-based diets had inferior weight gain (1978 vs. 1807 g, p < 0.01) and feed per gain ratio (1.81 vs. 1.93; p < 0.01). Both weight gain (1870 vs. 1915 g; p < 0.01) and feed intake (3511 vs. 3556 g; p < 0.01) were increased by enzyme addition to experimental diets. Feed intake significantly (p < 0.01) increased by sodium butyrate addition to experimental diets; however, no significant differences were observed in weight gain or feed per gain ratio when sodium butyrate added to experimental diets. The birds fed wheat-based diet had higher relative weights of the proventriculus (p < 0.01), gizzard (p < 0.05), liver (p < 0.05), duodenum (p < 0.05), and ceca (p < 0.01) when compared with those fed corn-based diet. Enzyme and sodium butyrate addition had no significant effects (p > 0.05) on the relative weights of the proventriculus, gizzard, pancreas, liver and heart. Cereal type had a significant (p < 0.05) effect on intestinal morphology, including villus height and crypt depth. Jejunal villus height (p < 0.05) and crypt depth (p < 0.01) were improved by sodium butyrate addition. In conclusion, the results of this experiment showed that enzyme and sodium butyrate addition, especially to the wheat based diet, improve growth performance.