Potential of Dietary Citric and Malic Acid Supplementation on Biological Performance and Economic Efficiency by Replacing Conventional Antibiotics in Cobb500 Broiler Chickens

This study aimed to evaluate the synergistic effects of dietary citric and malic acids supplementation on biological performance and economic efficacy by replacing conventional antibiotics in cobb500 broiler chickens. A total of 280 one-day-old chickens were randomly assigned to five dietary treatments with four replicates in a completely randomized design. The dietary treatments included a basal diet without supplementation (T1), 60 mg/kg oxytetracycline (T2), 16 g/kg citric acid (T3), 8 g/kg malic acid (T4), and a mixture of 8 g/kg citric acid and 4 g/kg malic acid (T5). At the end of the feeding trial, eight broiler birds per treatment were slaughtered for carcass evaluation and gut morphology. The results revealed that the average daily weight gain of chickens was significant (P<0.05) among the treatments during the starter and grower phases; the organic acid-supplemented groups presented greater (61.98 to 64.30 g) weight gain than did the T1 group (59.58 g) but comparable to the T2 group (64.06 g) in terms of daily weight gain in all phases. A better feed conversion ratio (FCR) was obtained in the organic acid-supplemented groups. The highest (P<0.05) dressed carcass yields were recorded in T2 and T5. Similarly, better relative economic efficiency was recorded in T5. Dietary supplementation with a mixture of citric and malic acids is a more effective antibiotic replacement strategy than individual acid supplementation; it improves the growth performance, carcass characteristics, and economic efficiency of Cobb500 broiler chickens.