Sodium Butyrate Saves Poultry Feed Cost

The intestinal bacteria produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), when fermenting compounds that cannot be digested by the animals, such as cellulose, fiber, starch and sugar; and the end-product amongst other SCFAs? – Butyric Acid.

Saving Feed Cost through Reformulation of Poultry Diet with Sodium Butyrate

With feed cost usually consisting of 70% of total production cost, it would make sense to explore options that could help reduce feed cost and expand profit margin of poultry producers. There is no doubt that supplementing sodium butyrate helps improve the feed efficiency of broilers, but this also possess a new opportunity for nutritionists to reformulate broiler diets forming feed with lower costs with the same feed performance and reducing potential nutrient wastage with small amounts of butyrate salts as part of broilers’ staple diet.

How does it work?

A. Gut microflora population – unleashing unavailable energy stores 

With the aim to reduce feed cost, focus should be placed on how we could unlock nutrients within animal feed that is not yet available for the animal for energy – via the gut microbiota. In either a normal diet or nutritionally reduced diet, dietary supplementation of butyric acid can alter cecal microbiota composition. Besides that, when the intestinal microbiota balance has been disrupted due to a challenge, supplementing dietary butyric acid can also help recover the intestinal microbiota population.

Microbiota population that increases with dietary butyric acid supplementation:

• Firmicutes – increases feed efficiency
  • Ruminococcus
    • Involved in degrading cellulose and hemicellulose – allow more energy to be obtained from complex polysaccharides
  • Lachnospiraceae
    • Stabilizes intestinal environment, retards accumulation of lacatate and produces bacteriocins
  • Bacteroidetes – major phyla that plays a role in polysaccharide decomposition and fermentation

Microbiota population that decreases with dietary butyric acid supplementation:

• Enterobacteriaceae – disrupts intestinal digestion a absorption
• Lactobacillaceae – excites bacterial bile salts hydrolysis causing impaired lipid absorption and increased dietary energy loss.

B. Intestinal integrity

Butyric acid is well known for being involved in various biological functions such as being used as energy, preventing pathogenic bacterial growth, modulating immune and inflammatory responses, modulating cell proliferation, differentiation, maturation which positively affects the intestinal barrier. Supplementation of sodium butyrate  reduced the gut leakiness indicators (D(-)-lactate) and inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α and IL-1β) and increased the anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-10) increased significantly. Sodium butyrate not only increases the expression and activity of SGLT1, GLUT2 in the brush border, but also enhances the expression of G protein-coupled receptor (GPR) 43 and GPR 41 (a sensor of intestinal SCFAs) as they migrate along the villus thereby enhancing feed efficiency.

Figure 1. Butyric acid inhibits gut inflammation

Figure 2. Effects of supplementing Sodium Butyrate in Downspec Feed on Broiler FCR 

From the graph above, we can see that supplementing sodium butyrate to downspec feed is able to make up for the decrease growth caused by the decrease in nutrients available in the feed. This shows that feed efficiency can be increased by supplementing sodium butyrate to animal’s diet thereby saving cost. Therefore, taking into consideration the effects of sodium butyrate on downspec feed formulation, it is recommended to supply butyrate salts when down formulating feed according to the table below to save feed costs:

Recommendations for nutrient reformulation with BTR^TM 98 :

*Based on ingredient pricing updated on Dec 2020. Figures may vary due to formulation & ingredient pricing.

In the early stages of the animal’s life, its digestive system is not fully developed, therefore, undigested feed is more prevalent, burdening the animal’s digestive system and disrupting the development of a healthy gut and gut microbiota. The goal when supplementing sodium butyrate salts to starter chicks is to help animals develop their digestive system and achieve digestive maturity as soon as possible allowing animals perform at their maximum genetic potential. A greater effect of sodium butyrate salts on feed conversion ratio is usually seen in starters compared to those in the grower and finisher stages. Therefore, a higher amount of downregulation is allocated in the starter’s diet.

At Manuka Biotech, we carry a range of sodium butyrate salts that could help save feed costs by maximizing feed efficiency. BTR^TM 98 consists of a minimum of 98% sodium butyrate. It is a natural remedy that supports poultry gut health while allowing producers to reap the benefits of saving feed costs. Do contact us for more information.

 References are available upon request