The effects of several organic acids on growth performance, nutrient digestibilities, and cecal microbial populations in young chicks.

Four experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of citric, gluconic, fumaric, and malic acids on growth and nutrient digestibility in New Hampshire x Columbian male chicks from hatch to 21 d. For growth performance, chicks fed 1 to 4% gluconic acid, 4% citric acid, or 4% malic acid in a corn-soybean meal diet generally showed reductions (P < 0.05) in growth to 21 d, whereas 3% citric acid, 2% malic acid, or 1.5 to 4.5% fumaric acid had no significant effect. In the first experiment, 2, 4, and 6% gluconic acid increased ME(n) values at 7, 14, and 21 d, but in experiment 2, 1 and 2% gluconic acid decreased ME(n) at 4 and 7 d, but had no effect at 14 and 21 d. The 4% level of citric acid increased ME(n) at 4 d. Digestibility of most amino acids (AA) was reduced by gluconic acid in some treatments, whereas citric acid (3%) increased AA digestibility at 4 d but not at 21 d. For cecal microbial populations at 21 d, bifidobacteria were reduced when 2% gluconic acid and 3% citric acid were fed to chicks in a corn-soybean meal diet, whereas 4% gluconic acid had no effect when fed in a dextrose-casein diet to chicks. In a dextrose-isolated soy protein diet, 4% gluconic acid reduced the cecal populations of Lactobacillus, Escherichia coli, and Clostridium perfringens. The results of this study indicated that feeding organic acids did not have any consistent effects on growth performance, ME(n), AA digestibility, or cecal microbial numbers.