Rapid intestinal transit or rapid intestinal passage rate is a common problem on farms, resulting in the presence of partially undigested feed in the faeces and liquid excreta. It causes feed not to remain long enough in the intestines for the proper digestion and nutrient absorption.

Consequently, the performance and health of the animals get worse. Indirectly, rapid passage rate decreases the litter quality, a predisposing factor for different diseases.

Activated diatoms can reduce the speed of intestinal transit, preventing the problems arising from this condition and, at the same time, improve the use of nutrients, the consistency of the stool and the performance parameters.

Field trial: use of activated diatoms in broilers

Objective

To evaluate the effect of activated diatoms in broilers.

Experimental design

• Number of birds: 440 broilers (males and females)
• Duration: 42 days
• Distribution: 4 experimental treatments with 5 replicates each and 22 chickens per replicate. The results were evaluated separately for females and males.

Batches

• T1 Control females: Standard basal diet without additives (SBD)
• T2 Control males: Standard basal diet without additives (SBD)
• T3 Female diatoms: DBE + activated diatoms at 0.5 kg/t
• T4 Male diatoms: DBE + activated diatoms at 0.5 kg/t

Results

Intestinal passage rate

In the batches that received activated diatoms, there was a slowdown in intestinal transit in males and females, which is observed by a longer intestinal passage rate both on days 21 and 42.

At the end of the trial, the transit slowed down by 16 minutes on average.

Digestibility

Regarding the use of nutrients, an increase in the digestibility of the different nutrients provided in the diet was evidenced, for example, an average increase of more than 4% was achieved for proteins.

Litter moisture

On the other hand, litter moisture was reduced in the treated batches thanks to decreasing the water content of the feces. This translates into better litter quality and helps to reduce air quality problems, coccidiosis and footpad dermatitis, among others.

Weight

The final weight was higher in the batches that received diatoms, as they increased weight by 3% (+92 g/bird) compared to the control batch.

Feed conversion rate

The conversion rate, which evaluates the capacity of the birds to transform feed into body mass, was improved in the batches that received diatoms.

Product quality

Greater uniformity and percentage of breast were also observed in the treated batches, which are indicators of improvement in product quality.

Economic performance

The economic analysis was based on the return on investment (ROI), which relates the total income with the investment, and it was better in the diatom groups with an average improvement of 4%.

Conclusion

With activated diatoms, it was possible to slow down the intestinal transit, increasing feed’s retention time by 16 minutes; this allowed to avoid rapid transit and improved the digestibility of the different components of the diet.

The improvement in performance was of 92more grams per bird with a 4% better feed conversion. Improvements were also seen in product quality expressed in greater uniformity (+4%) and breast percentage (+7%).

Based on the results obtained, for every million birds with activated diatoms, a farm would produce 92 more tons of meat and save 224 tons of feed.

Activated diatoms are marketed as Alquerfeed Diatom, a product developed, registered and patented by BIOVET S.A.