Evaluation Effect of Silver Acetate on Performance and Clostridium Perfringens-Induced Necrotic Enteritis in Broiler Chickens

The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential effect of silver acetate (AgAc) on broiler chicken performance and necrotic enteritis development. The in vivo efficacy of AgAc delivered either by adding into the feed (as a prophylactic model) or via drinking water (as treatment model) during necrotic enteritis challenge was evaluated in two experiments. In Experiment 1, Feed-added AgAc, 210 one-d-old broiler chickens (Cobb-500) were blocked in 7dietary treatment groups (6 replicates/5 birds each) as follows: Positive control (no AgAc and no challenge, n=30), negative control (no AgAc and challenged, n=30), and 5 dietary AgAc treatments (n=30/treatment) fed 20, 40, 60, 80, 100mg/kg feed AgAc for 21-d rearing period and challenged. Necrotic enteritis was experimentally induced using an oral administration of netB positive-Clostridium perfringens type A (3ml per bird, 107 CFU/mL) on days 16 and 17. In Experiment 2, Water-added AgAc, the same protocol was followed except the birds (Ross-308) received the AgAc concentrations via drinking water for the last 4days of the 21-d rearing period. Body weight and feed intake were recorded by pen on days 10, 16 and 21 in both experiments. All birds were necropsied on d-21 to measure intestinal lesions associated with necrotic enteritis, and intestinal contents (med-ileum) of 12 birds per treatment were collected for Clostridium perfringens enumeration. Whether AgAc was added into the feed (for 21d) or in the water (4d), there were no differences (P>0.05) seen in bird performance, Clostridium perfringens enumeration, and lesion score compared to the positive and negative controls. These results suggest limitation effect of silver acetate on performance and reduce Clostridium perfringen colonization in broiler chickens.