Journal of Applied Poultry Research (Mar 2023)
Applied Research Note: Effects of various concentrations of supplemental biochar on ileal digestible energy and live performance of broilers during an 8-wk production period
Abstract
SUMMARY: The development and application of non-nutritive feed additives have increased over the past several years for many nutritional, functional, and health-related reasons. The reduced use of dietary antibiotics at subtherapeutic concentrations has created a need for readily available, cost-effective, and efficacious alternatives to help maintain broiler growth performance and gastrointestinal health in the absence of antibiotic growth promoters. Non-nutritive additives such as biochar have been reported in the literature to positively affect body weight gain in pigs and turkeys, but limited research has evaluated the effects of biochar supplementation in large broilers. These responses are likely related to its adsorptive capabilities which may provide a therapeutic effect by binding mycotoxins, bacterial toxins, antinutritional metabolites, or pathogenic bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. This study evaluated the effects of feeding various concentrations (0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, or 2.0%) of a novel biochar product derived from the pyrolysis of pistachio shells on apparent ileal digestible energy and growth performance of broilers during an 8-wk production period. At 15 d of age, broilers fed diets with 2.0% supplemental biochar had a 10% lower apparent ileal digestible energy than those fed the diet without supplemental biochar. However, at 29 d of age, no differences in apparent ileal digestible energy were observed. Similarly, no differences in broiler growth performance were observed throughout the experiment. Thus, supplementing diets with higher concentrations of biochar (2.0%) may negatively affect apparent ileal digestibility of young broilers but overall biochar supplementation did not affect the growth performance of large broilers.
