Use of organic acid blends to control spread of salmonella heidelberg in broilers

The objective was to evaluate an organic acid blend supplied via water and feed to control the spread of Salmonella Heidelberg in broilers from 1-31 days of age. The design was a complete randomized block with five treatments and five replicates, 25 experimental units (13 birds per unit, density of 13 birds/m2). 325 one day old female chicks were randomly arranged in five treatments: T1 - Negative Control (no acids + 0,5 ml of physiological solution in water); T2 - Positive control (no acids + 0,5 ml of Salmonella Heidelberg (1.206 CFU) in water); T3 - Via Acid water (inoculation of 0,5 ml of Salmonella Heidelberg (1.206 CFU) in water); T4 - Infeed Acid (inoculation of 0,5 ml of Salmonella Heidelberg (1.206 CFU) in feed); T5 - Acid via water and feed (inoculation of 0,5 ml of Salmonella Heidelberg (1.206 CFU)). The results were analyzed using Bayesian comparisons with 5% of significance and a priori beta distribution. Significant effects of treatments were found on feed conversion at 21, 28 and 31 days, treatment T3 had the best results. Regarding live weight, significant effects at 14, 21, 28 and 31 days were observed in T3, greater than others. The blend of organic acids has shown its numerical effectiveness in reducing the incidence of Salmonella Heidelberg among the treated groups in intestines pool at nine days, drag swab at 16 days and in wattle collection at 31 days. There were no significant differences between the treated groups and control groups.