Encapsulated peracetic acid as a valid broad-spectrum antimicrobial alternative, leading to beneficial microbiota compositional changes and enhanced performance in broiler chickens

Table 3 Performance and pH observed through the different time intervals and gut locations amongst the five experimental conditions

Interval/Location	CLC	RLC	0 ppm	30 ppm	80 ppm
Bird-level body weight, kg
d 0 (n = 375)	0.041 ± 0.003	0.04 ± 0.003	0.04 ± 0.002	0.04 ± 0.003	0.04 ± 0.003
Bird-level body weight gain, kg
d 0–7 (n = 373)	0.11 ± 0.03	0.11 ± 0.03^A,a	0.11 ± 0.03^b	0.12 ± 0.03^B	0.12 ± 0.03^B
d 0–14 (n = 371)	0.33 ± 0.08^A	0.33 ± 0.08^C,c	0.36 ± 0.07^B,d	0.37 ± 0.07^B,D	0.36 ± 0.07^B,D
d 0–21 (n = 369)	0.72 ± 0.18^A	0.76 ± 0.17^C	0.79 ± 0.14^B	0.82 ± 0.14^B,D	0.82 ± 0.12^B,D
d 0–28 (n = 367)	1.28 ± 0.29^A	1.37 ± 0.27^c	1.41 ± 0.22^B	1.45 ± 0.22^B,d	1.42 ± 0.18^B
Pen-level mortality-corrected feed conversion ratio
d 0–7 (n = 75)	1.12 ± 0.06^a	1.17 ± 0.05^b,C	1.11 ± 0.07^D	1.09 ± 0.08^D	1.08 ± 0.08^D
d 0–14 (n = 75)	1.2 ± 0.06^A	1.19 ± 0.02^c	1.17 ± 0.04	1.14 ± 0.05^B,d	1.17 ± 0.03
d 021 (n = 75)	1.3 ± 0.08^A	1.27 ± 0.06^c	1.3 ± 0.03^E	1.27 ± 0.07^g	1.22 ± 0.1^B,d,F,h
d 0−28 (n = 75)	1.38 ± 0.1^A	1.31 ± 0.11^B,C	1.37 ± 0.03^D,E	1.34 ± 0.08	1.31 ± 0.11^B,F
Bird-level luminal pH
Ileum (n = 148)	6.6 ± 0.9^A	6.6 ± 0.8^C	6.9 ± 0.7	6.8 ± 0.8^E	7.2 ± 0.5^B,D,F
Caeca (n = 149)	6.2 ± 0.6	6.2 ± 0.7	6.0 ± 0.7	6.0 ± 0.7	6.0 ± 0.7
Colon (n = 147)	6.6 ± 0.9	6.6 ± 1	6.7 ± 1	6.5 ± 0.8	6.6 ± 0.9

CLC Clean litter control, RLC Re-used litter control; 0 ppm 0 mg/kg of PAA control, 30 ppm 30 mg/kg of PAA treatment, 80 ppm 80 mg/kg of PAA treatment. Different uppercase superscripts in the same row indicate statistically significant differences (P < 0.05), whilst lower case superscripts indicate 0.05 < P < 0.10, as calculated via Satterthwaite's method applied on the output of the linear mixed model

ISSN: 2049-1891