Applied Research Note: Effects of various concentrations of supplemental biochar on ileal digestible energy and live performance of broilers during an 8-wk production period

Authors: McCafferty, Klint; Purswell, Joseph - Jody

Submitted to: Journal of Applied Poultry Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/14/2022
Publication Date: 1/5/2023
Citation: Mccafferty, K.W., Purswell, J.L. 2023. Applied Research Note: Effects of various concentrations of supplemental biochar on ileal digestible energy and live performance of broilers during an 8-wk production period. Journal of Applied Poultry Research. 32(1). Article 100323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.japr.2022.100323.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.japr.2022.100323

Interpretive Summary: Consumer preference to reduce the use of subtherapeutic antibiotic growth promoters in broiler diets has increased the need to develop alternative methods to maintain growth efficiency and gastrointestinal health. Various dietary strategies such as non-nutritive feed additives have been developed and reported as potential alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters. Exploring novel non-nutritive feed additives such as supplemental biochar is warranted to help provide alternative cost-effective dietary strategies for maintaining broiler growth performance and health without antibiotic growth promoters. Moreover, dietary biochar supplementation has been observed to improve growth performance and nutrient digestibility in pigs and turkeys, but limited research has explored the effects of supplemental biochar in large broilers. This study evaluated the effects of feeding various concentrations of supplemental biochar on energy digestibility and growth performance of growing broilers. Dietary biochar supplementation inconsistently affected energy digestibility but did not affect the growth performance of broilers. Thus, the benefits of supplemental biochar are likely not associated with improvements in energy digestibility. However, biochar supplementation may be safely incorporated into diets without negatively affecting growth performance of broilers. This information is important for nutritionists and live production managers of broiler companies as well as universities for determining the value of dietary biochar supplementation and its impact on energy digestibility and growth performance of large broilers.

Technical Abstract: The development and application of non-nutritive feed additives have increased over the past several years for many nutritional, functional, and health related reasons. The reduced use of dietary antibiotics at subtherapeutic concentrations has created a need for readily available, cost-effective, and efficacious alternatives to help maintain broiler growth performance and gastrointestinal health in the absence of antibiotic growth promoters. Non-nutritive additives such as biochar have been reported in the literature to positively affect body weight gain in pigs and turkeys, but limited research has evaluated the effects of biochar supplementation in large broilers. This study evaluated the effects of feeding various concentrations (0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, or 2.0%) of a novel biochar product on apparent ileal digestible energy and growth performance of broilers during an 8-week production period. At 15 d of age, broilers fed diets with 2.0% supplemental biochar had a 10% lower apparent ileal digestible energy than those fed the diet without supplemental biochar. However, at 29 d of age, no differences in apparent ileal digestible energy were observed. Similarly, no differences in broiler growth performance were observed throughout the experiment. Feeding diets with supplemental biochar inconsistently affected apparent ileal energy digestibility but did not affect growth performance of broilers during an 8-week production period.