Acids prove effective against bacteria

New organic acid products for poultry have been developed to overcome the drawbacks of conventional acids, such as corrosion, smell and storage difficulties.

One such product is based on monobutyrin, the monoglyceride of butyric acid, and according to manufacturer Wenemco’s UK product manager Steve Ladbrook, it is up to 30 times more effective against bacteria than its original organic acid.

“Unlike butyric acid, which, is not an easy product to handle in feed mills, monobutyrin is very stable and has no smell,” he says.

Another advantage is that monobutyrin is soluble in water, which makes it immediately active in the upper regions of the digestive tract, the crop and the gizzard. “We are seeing significant reductions in salmonella and clostridia when monobutyrin is used,” says Mr Ladbrook.

He cites a trial in which birds were infected with Salmonella typhimurium 10 days after hatching. Half the birds received 0.5% of a monobutyrin-based product via their water supply starting five days after infection, whereas the other half received normal water.

“After five days’ treatment with monobutyrin, the birds had much lower levels of salmonella in the caecum and 60% were salmonella negative,” Mr Ladbrook claims. “After 15 days we were able to clear all salmonella in the caeca and in the livers.”

Detailed work has also been carried out by Steve Leeson of the University of Guelph in Canada with monobutyrin and other butyric acid glycerides. In one trial, Ross males were vaccinated with Paracox 5 – a Schering-Plough product – and challenged with both coccidiosis agents and with clostridium perfringens.

As the table shows, the group treated with 0.2% of the butyric acid glycerides from 0-21 days showed better performance and a higher resistance to both coccidiosis and clostridium perfringens.” Birds showed a 27% increase in growth rate and a 19% improvement in feed conversion when monobutyrin was used.

Mr Ladbrook says the new monobutyrin molecule is strongly antimicrobial and is designed to be used even where there is a high disease challenge, especially from coliforms, salmonella and clostridia.