Protective Effect of Sodium Butyrate on Growth Performance, Immune Responses and Gut Mucosal Morphometry in Salmonella-Challenged Broiler Chickens

Effect of sodium butyrate (SB) was evlauted on gut development, immune system and performance traits in broilers challenged with Salmonella gallinarum. For this purpose, 240 Salmonella-free broiler chicks were divided into four groups with six replicates of 10 birds each. Groups NC (non-infected + non-medicated) and NC-S (Salmonella infected + non-medicated) served as negative controls. Group PC-S (Salmonella infected + medicated with enrofloxacin) was kept as positive control and birds representing SB-S (Salmonella infected) group were treated orally with SB at the dose of 1.0 g/kg, as a supplement to the basal feed. Better growth performance was reported in SB supplemented birds. NC-S group displayed lower (P < 0.05) antibody titer against ND and higher (P < 0.05) cellular immunity was recorded in SB-S as compared to NC-S and PC-S groups. Contrary to NC-S the SB-S group exhibited higher (P < 0.05) relative weights of thymus and bursa. Unlike the PC-S and SB-S groups, reduced villus height and villus to crypt ratio (P < 0.05) and increased (P < 0.05) cecal Salmonella population and mortality rate were evident in NC-S group. The prophylactic use of SB diminished the stress associated with S. gallinarum infection in birds. (C) 2017 Friends Science Publishers