Guanidinoacetic acid supplementation and stocking density effects on broiler performance: behavior, biochemistry, immunity, and small intestinal histomorphology

Rearing poultry under stressful high stocking density (HSD) conditions is a common commercial practice to increase profitability, despite its negative effects on broiler physiology and welfare. Many feed additives are used to alleviate the negative impact of such practices. This study investigated t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Acta veterinaria scandinavica 2024-12, Vol.66 (1), p.62-19
Main Authors: Alaa, Mohammad, Abdel Razek, Abeer Hamada, Tony, Mohamed Ahmed, Yassin, Aya Mohye, Warda, Mohamad, Awad, Mohamed Ahmed, Bawish, Basma Mohamed
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal Feed - analysis
Animal Husbandry - methods
Animals
Antioxidants
Antioxidants - metabolism
Behavior
Behavior, Animal - drug effects
Biochemistry
Broiler chickens
Chickens - anatomy & histology
Chickens - growth & development
Chickens - immunology
Chickens - physiology
Costs (Law)
Creatine
Creatine kinase
Diet - veterinary
Dietary supplements
Dietary Supplements - analysis
Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid
GAA
Glycine - administration & dosage
Glycine - analogs & derivatives
Glycine - pharmacology
Hemagglutination-inhibition test
Immune response
Ingestive behavior
Intestine, Small - anatomy & histology
Intestine, Small - drug effects
Intestine, Small - physiology
Male
Oxidative stress
Physiological aspects
Population Density
Random Allocation
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Summary:Rearing poultry under stressful high stocking density (HSD) conditions is a common commercial practice to increase profitability, despite its negative effects on broiler physiology and welfare. Many feed additives are used to alleviate the negative impact of such practices. This study investigated the ameliorative effects of guanidinoacetic acid (GAA) on growth performance, ingestive behavior, immune response, antioxidant status, stress indicators, and intestinal histomorphometry of broilers subjected to HSD. A total of 364 male broilers were randomly allocated into four treatments with 7 replicates each in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement: two stocking densities (SD) (10 and 16 birds/m ) and two GAA levels (0 and 0.6 g/kg feed). Body weight, weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, production efficiency factor, dressing yield, and ingestive behavior were negatively affected by HSD, whereas the mortality rate was unaffected (P > 0.05). GAA improved the overall growth performance and dressing percentage (P 
ISSN:0044-605X
1751-0147
1751-0147
DOI:10.1186/s13028-024-00782-6