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. 2018 Dec 19;5(1):22–31. doi: 10.1016/j.aninu.2018.11.002

Table 8.

Volatile fatty acids (VFA) in cecal content of 42-day-old broilers (mmol/kg wet digesta).

Item Cecal digesta VFA1
Total VFA Acetic, % Propionic, % Butyric, % Βranched VFA, % Οther VFA, %
Type of cereal2
 Maize (M) 92.00b 63.36a 6.49 25.97b 2.17B 2.00B
 Wheat (W) 111.43a 59.51b 6.29 31.46a 1.19A 1.55A
PFA supplementation, mg/kg diet3
 0 115.06a 59.60 5.64 31.72a 1.37 1.67
 100 101.11ab 60.73 6.49 29.64ab 1.43 1.72
 150 88.98b 63.98 7.04 24.79b 2.24 1.94
Interaction (treatments)4
 M0 114.35 62.94 5.31 28.51 1.45B 1.78
 M100 91.04 62.91 7.04 26.56 1.64B 1.84
 M150 70.63 64.22 7.11 22.85 3.42A 2.40
 W0 115.78 56.26 5.97 34.92 1.30B 1.56
 W100 111.18 58.54 5.94 32.72 1.21B 1.60
 W150 107.32 63.74 6.97 26.73 1.06B 1.49
 SEM 9.646 2.171 0.592 2.472 0.351 0.152
P-values
 PCT 0.021 0.040 0.686 0.012 0.000 0.001
 PPFA 0.041 0.133 0.078 0.029 0.094 0.174
 PCT × PFA 0.209 0.368 0.345 0.854 0.007 0.056

M0 = maize-soy bean meal (SBM) basal diet with no other additions; M100 = maize-SBM basal diet with addition of 100 mg PFA/kg diet; M150 = maize-SBM basal diet with addition of 150 mg PFA/kg diet; W0 = wheat-SBM basal diet with no other additions; W100 = wheat-SBM basal diet with addition of 100 mg PFA/kg diet; W150 = maize-SBM basal diet with addition of 150 mg PFA/kg diet; SEM = pooled standard error of means; CT = cereal type; PFA = phytogenic feed additive.

a, b Within a column, means with different superscripts differ at P < 0.05.

A, B Within a column, means with different superscripts differ at P < 0.01.

1

Total VFA: acetic + propionic + butyric + branched VFA + other VFA; Βranched VFA: isobutyric + isovaleric + isocaproic; Οther VFA: valeric + caproic + heptanoic.

2

Basal diets based on maize (M) or wheat (W). Data shown per CT represent treatment means from 15 broilers (e.g. 5 from treatment M0 + 5 from treatment M100 + 5 from treatment M150).

3

Phytogenic supplementation (0, 100 and 150 mg/kg diet). Data shown for PFA represent means from 10 replicate pens (e.g. 5 from treatment M0 + 5 from treatment W0).

4

Interaction means (treatments) for 5 battery cages per treatment.