Effects of dietary supplementation of waste date’s vinegar on performance and improvement of digestive tract in broiler chicks

Two hundred 1-day-old commercial broilers (Ross 308) were used to determine the effects of diets supplementation with waste date's vinegar (WDV) on the growth and performance of digestive tract over a 42-days growing period. Chicks were randomly allocated to one of five experimental diets supplementing as 0 (control), 1, 2, and 3% of WDV and 2% industrial vinegar (IV). Broilers and their feed consumptions were weighed at the trial beginning and days 10, 21, 35 and 42 of experimental period. Moreover, one chick from every replicate was killed at days 21 and 42 to measure development of digestive tissues and morphology and microbiology of small intestine. Although the final body weight was higher following IV and 1% WDV usage, feed conversion ratio was negatively affected by IV usage compared to control (p < 0.05). Relative weight of different parts of small intestine was not affected by experimental diets. Villus height and width were reduced linearly in WDV, IV and control groups (p < 0.05), but crypt depth was not different among experimental diets. Also, ileum microbiota was not affected by treatments. Results indicated that diet supplementation with WDV has positive effects on growth performance and histomorphology of jejunum in broilers.