Virginiamycin Effects on Performance and Saleable Carcass of Broilers

01994App4icd Pouluy Science, Inc

VIRGINIAMYCIN EFFECTS ON

PERFORMANCE AND SALEABLE CARCASS OF BROILERS TSEGAW BELAY and ROBERT G. TEETER' Oklahoma State Universiy, Animal Science Department, Stillwater, OK 74078 Phone: (405) 744-6621 FAX;. (405) 744-7390

Key words: Carcass, heat stress, mortality, Virginiamycin

yield has been attributed to reduced intestinal DESCRIPTION OF PROBLEM tract weight 112, 15,161. Virginiamycin (VM) is an effective antibiotic against gram positive microorganisms [ 11 and has been shown to improve broiler growth rate, feed efficiency [2, 3, 4, 51, and carcass yield [2,6]. Improved performance of broilers fed diets containing VM seems to result from increased feed consumption [6,7]and nutrient absorption efficiency [8,9]. Enhanced utilization of sulfur amino acids [lo], phosphorus [ll], and manganese [12] has also been reported for birds consuming VM. The improved nutrient absorption may be related to reduced intestinal mass and mucosal membrane thickness [13, 141 as improved carcass

* To whom correspondence should be addressed

High ambient temperature-relative humidity stress (HD) has long been known to depress broiler performance [ 171. For example, heat-stressed birds have been reported to have lower blood agglutinin titers against heatkilled Salmonella pullonim antigen and suppressed cell-mediated immunity [18, 191. Immunological responses mediated via leukocytic cytokines have been reported to increase bird heat production [20]. The beneficial effects of antibiotic use during heat stress could potentially be two-fold via reduced immune challenge and reduced heat production.

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Primary Audience: B r o i 1e r Producers N u t r i t i o n i s t Res e a r ch e r s, Veterinarians

JAPR ANTIBIOTICS AND HEAT STRESS

112 The objectives of this study were to evaluate VM efficacy in broilers exposed to 24 and 24-35°C ambient temperature in clean and dirty [20] environments.

temperature cycles were maintained at a continuous 24°C for thermoneutral (TN) and a cycling ambient temperature exposure composed of 12 hr at 24"C, 6 hr of 24-35"C, and 6 hr of 3544°C for HD. Relative humiditywas maintained at 55 rt 5% in both environments. Experimental rations consisted of a corn and soybean meal-based grower ration (Table 1) supplemented with VM (0, 15, and 20 ppm) and either 1%ground polyethylene (PE) or used rice hull-based poultry litter (PL) to simulate clean and dirty housing environments. The PE corrected for the ration space occupied by the PL and was verified in previous studies to have no impact on bird growth rate and survivability (211. Treatment groups were analyzed in a 3 x 2 factorial arrangement containing twelve and twenty-four replicates of six chicks each in the TN and HD environments, respectively. Following four days of adapting to ration and new surroundings, the birds were fasted overnight, weighed, and the experiment initiated. Feed and water were continuously available for ad libitum consumption. Birds were checked for mortality twice daily with body weights immediately recorded. Following the 21-day experimental period, individual bird weights and feed consumption by pen was recorded. In addition, two broilers from each replicate were selected at random and dressing percentage, carcass specific gravity [22, 281, and saleable carcass determined. Data were analyzed for ambient temperature, VM, PL, and block effects as well as for appropriate interactions using analysis of variance in the General Linear Models (GLM) procedure of SAS [24]. When significant F statistics were detected, means were separated using Duncan's [25] multiple range test.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

TABLE 1. Composition of the starter and finisher diets used for the experiments ~~

INGREDIENT

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Chick body weight, gain/feed (GF), and survivability (SURV) results through 25 days post-hatching are displayed in Table 2. Though birds were reared in a relatively clean brooding environment (created by providing fresh litter and leaving the floor pens empty for seven days prior to the experiment initiation), several VM benefits were observed. Virginiamycin (VM) supplementation at 15 and 20 ppm improved (P< .05) SURV and GF, respectively. The 8.2% overall chick mortality was presumably due to a mild cold stress as evidenced by birds huddling under the

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A total of 1500 day-old Cobb x Cobb male chicks were divided into six pens, offered a corn and soybean meal-based starter ration (Table 1)supplementedwith O,l5,and 20 pprn VM for consumption, and reared on rice hull litter to 25 days of age. On day 26 pen bird weights and feed consumption were determined. Birds were checked for mortality twice daily throughout the study; the weight of dead birds was recorded. Following day 26 pen observations, 1296 birds were randomly selected from the VM populations and allotted towirefloored (61 x 82 cm) grower batteries housed within thermostatically and humidistatically controlled environmental chambers. The daily

Research Report BELAY and TEETER

113

VIRGINIAMYCIN~

BODY WEIGHT (g)

G/F

SURV (%)

0

763

0.59

89Bb

15

763

0.63ab

94.0a

20

757

SEM~

91.5ab

32

0.03

2.31

BPooled standard error of means ‘bMeans within a column with no common superscript differ significantly (P< .05).

TABLE 3. Weight gain, feed consumption (FC), gain/feed ratio (G/F), survivability (SURV), and mortality adjusted G/F (AdG/F) of broilers reared in lherrnoneutral (TN) and heat-stress (HD) environments

ENVIRONMENT

I I

HD SEM~

1

I

VARIABLE

I Weight Gain (9) 1

FC (g)

1

1

2429b

I

0.43b

1

16

I

0.006

1159b

I

8

1

G/F

1 I

SURV(%)

I

AdGP

89.7b

I

0.46

1.3

I

0.003

-

~

I I

~

APooled standard error of means lVbMeanswithin a variable with unlike superscripts differ significantly ( P < .OS). TABLE 4. Weight gain, feed consumption (FC), gain/feed ratio (G/F), and survivability

(SURV)of

broilers fed

two levels of Poultrv litter POULTRY LITIER~

0

1 SEM~

I

I

VARIABLE Weight Gain (9)

FC (9)

G/F

SURV (%)

1259

2530

0.4Sa

96.4a

1250

2549

0.4Sb

91.9b

8

16

0.006

1.3

*Percent of poultly litter in the feed

I

BPooled standard e m r of means a’bMeanswithina variable with unlike superscripts differ sianificantly (P c ,051.

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three-way interactions of environment, VM, and PL were significant (P > .05), the main treatment effects are considered separately for environment, VM, and PL. As Table 3 shows, heat-stress reduced (P< .05) broiler gain (16.4%), feed consumption (9.1%), G/F (16.3%), SURV (8.9%), and mortality adjusted G/Fratio (10.8%) in a manner similar to that in previous studies [23,29]. Averaged over VM level and ambient temperature profile, the addition of 1% PL to the basal diet failed to impact gain and feed consumption (Table 4) but reduced (P e .OS) SURV and G/F by 4.9 and 6.7%, respectively. The negative effect on SURV of PL inclusion

brooding stoves. Though the chicks apparently experienced cold stress, their live weight and G/F ratio were similar to published standards [26] and to additional studies (12, 271 lacking ambient temperature stress. Other researches [28] have observed improved body weight at constant feed efficiency with broiler VM supplementation. Since gain was not affected in this study, the V M affect for improved G/F ratio on day 25 was likely the result of reduced mortality and enhanced nutrient bioavailability [27]. Results for live performance and carcass variables from 2 5 4 9 days are displayed in Tables 3 through 7. Since neither the two- or

JAPR ANTIBIOTICS AND HEAT STRESS

114

indicative of elevated carcass fat, is similar to what other researchers have found [32, 331. The effects of VM on carcass variables have been inconsistent with Lesson [6], who observed increased carcass weight and yield, while Izat et al. [151 reported no effect of VM on carcass weight or dressing percentage. In this study, the 20 ppm VM-supplemented broilers averaged over environmental temperature and PL fortification had 2.4 and 1.2% higher carcass weight compared to both control and 15 ppm supplemented broilers, respectively. Saleable carcass weight per bird increased linearly (P < .05) with the increased V M fortification level. The beneficial effect is the result of a combined VM impact on bird gain and survivability.The inclusion of 1%PL in the diet (Table 8) had no influence on carcass weight, dressing percent, and SPGR, but reduced (P -= .OS) saleable carcass weight per bird as a result of its influence on SURV

TABLE 5. Weight gain, feed consumption (FC), gainneed ratio (G/F), survivability (SURV), and mortality adjusted G/F (IWGIF) of broilers fed three levels of Virginiamycin

S.O.V.

1

Virginiamycin

Probability

DF 0.064

2

0.56

0.002

0.054

0.002

I

I

BPooled standard error of mean

I

P M e a n s within a variable with unlike superscripts differ significantly (P <.OS)

ENVIRONMENT Carcass Weight (g) TN

I I

I

1S9Sa

HD

I

1467b

SEMB

I

16

I I

VARIABLE

Dressing (Tu)

Salecar (g)

SPGRA

71.4b

I

1.@Ma

I

1S73a

72.9

I

1.042b

I

130Sb

I

0.22

I

o.ooo5

I

22

I

carcass wt. in air = carcass m. in air - (carassun inwatedlo) BPooled standard error of means a’bMeanswithina variable with unlike superscripts differ significantly (P < .OS)

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in the diet is possibly related to increased pathogen exposure, immunological responses suppression and/or lowered disease resistance, or some combination thereof. Averaged over sanitation level and ambient temperature, 15 pprn VM improved (P = .064) G by 2.1%, while the 20 ppm level increased (P = .054) SURV by 5.1% compared to controls (Table 5). Virginiamycin improved SURV in a dose-dependent manner, resulting in a higher ( P c .05) G/F and mortality adjusted G/Fwith the 20 ppm VM supplementation. The V M effects observed in the present study contrast with published works reporting a lack of efficacy [12, 27, 281, but agree with those demonstrating efficacy [3,4,6,30,31]. Heat-stress increased (P -c.05) the dressing percentage and reduced (P < .OS) carcass weight, specific gravity (SPGR), and saleable carcass weight per bird starting the study at 23 days (Tables 6 and 7). The reduced SPGR,

Research Report 115

BELAY and TEETER

TABLE 7. Carcass weight, dressing percent, specific gravity (SPGR),and mortality corrected saleable carcass weisht (Salecar) of broilers fed three levels of Wrginiamycin

VIRGIWY

CIN~

VARIABLE Carcass Weight (g)

Dressing (%)

0

1513

72.2

15

1530

71.5

1.044

1439ab

20

1549

72.1

1.043

1496'

SEM~

19

DF

Virginiamycin

2

1382b

O.OOO6

0.27

Probability 0.27

Salecar (g)

0.14

0.47

27

1

0.003

TABLE 8. Carcass weight, dressing percent, specific gravity (SPGR), and mortality corrected saleable carcass weight (Salecar) of broilers fed two levels of poultry litter

POULTRY LI-ITER~

VARIABLE Carcass Weight (g)

Dressing (VO)

SPGR~

Salecar (g)

0

1536

72.1

1.043

14la

1

1525

71.7

1.044

1397b

O.ooo5

22

SEM~

16

0.23

CONCLUSIONS AND APPLICATIONS 1. Virginiamycin supplementation of 15and 2G ppm did not affect broiler body weight during 25 days post-hatching, but improved SURV and G/F ratio. 2. During four to seven weeks, broiler carcass weight, dressing percent and SPGR were not influenced by V M levels; weight gain and G/Fratio were improved at both V M levels, while higher survivability was attained with 20 ppm VM inclusion. 3. Inclusion of 1%PL in the diet exacerbated broiler mortality indicating that poultry house sanitation practice is important. 4. Virginiamycin supplementation at 20 ppm increased saleable carcass weight by reducing broiler mortality.

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I

2. Woodward, S A , R.H. Harms, R.D. Miles, D.M. Janky, and N. Ruiz, 1988. Research Note: Influence of

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S.O.V.

SPGR~ 1.044

ANTIBIOTICS AND HEAT STRESS

116

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of Smithmine Beecham &., Inc. and the technical support of the OSU Avian Climatological Research Center employees.

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