Effect of Dietary Potassium Diformate on the Growth of Growing Broiler Chickens

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Potassium diformate (KDF), a chemical complex of formic acid and potassium formate, improves growth performance in pigs. The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of dietary KDF on the growth, nitrogen retention, intestinal pH, counts of Enterococcus faecalis, coliforms, and lactic acid bacteria in the cecum, and humoral immune response of growing broiler chickens. Twenty four male broiler chicks were randomly assigned into three groups (eight birds in each group). Each group was fed an antibiotics free commercial diet (as a control diet, 23% CP, 3,000 kcal of ME/kg), a control diet containing KDF at 1%, or a control diet containing antibiotics (50 g titer/t Salinomycin, 50 g titer/t Avilamycin) until 28 days of age. Dietary KDF significantly increased the weights of body, breast muscle, thighs and wings, whereas the weights of liver and abdominal fat were not affected. These findings suggest that the increase of body weight by dietary KDF might be due to the increased muscle weight. Dietary KDF did not affect nitrogen retention. Dietary KDF did not affect the intestinal pH, and the counts of Enterococcus faecalis, coliforms, and lactic acid bacteria in the cecum. Hemagglutination titer was not affected by dietary KDF. Thus, although the mechanisms of the growth promotion by dietary KDF are not clear, our findings suggest that the KDF might promote growth of broiler chickens at least in the early phase of growth.

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