Impact of buffered sodium butyrate as a partial or total dietary alternative to lincomycin on performance, IGF-1 and TLR4 genes expression, serum indices, intestinal histomorphometry, Clostridia, and litter hygiene of broiler chickens

Table 4 Influence of dietary sodium butyrate and lincomycin on cumulative growth performance parameters of broiler chickens (days 1–35)

Groups	Body weight (g)	Weight gain (g)	Feed intake (g)	FCR (g/g)	EPEF	Mortality (%)
T1	2157^bc	2113^bc	3429	1.62^ac	362^bc	5.83
T2	2228^abc	2184^abc	3421	1.57^abc	390^ab	4.17
T3	2142^c	2098^c	3443	1.64^a	354^c	6.25
T4	2259^ab	2215^ab	3427	1.55^bc	383^ab	5.83
T5	2269^a	2225^a	3362	1.51^b	392^a	5.42
SEM¹	14.60	14.60	15.79	0.01	5.02	0.48
P-value	0.003	0.003	0.565	0.001	0.035	0.726

^a,b,c Mean values with different superscripts in the same column indicate significant difference (Tukey’s test; P ≤ 0.05)
T1: Control - basal diet; T2: Butirex C4 1 kg/ton in starter feed (0-15d) and then 0.5 kg/ton in grower and finisher feed; T3: Lincomix recommended dose (100 g/ton); T4: Lincomix half the recommended dose (50 g/ton) + Butirex C4 0.5 kg/ton at 0–15 d and then 0.25 kg/ton; T5: Lincomix half the recommended dose (50 g/ton) + Butirex C4 1 kg/ton at 0–15 d and then 0.5 kg/ton
FCR, Feed Conversion Ratio (g of feed / g of weight gain)
EPEF: European Production Efficiency Factor= (livability × live weight (kg) / (age in days × FCR) × 100
¹ SEM: Standard error of mean
Number of sampled birds (N) = 20 birds/replicate (100 birds/group)

ISSN: 1751-0147