Effects of biochar inclusion in feed and chicken litter on growth performance, plasma lipids and fecal bacteria count of Noi lai chicken

Nguyen Ngoc Hien¹, Nguyen Nhut Xuan Dung, Luu Huu Manh¹ and Bui Thi Le Minh¹

Animal Science Department, Agriculture and Applied Biology faculty, Cantho University, Cantho, Vietnam
nnxdung@ctu.edu.vn
¹ Veterinary Medicine Department,Agriculture and Applied Biology faculty Cantho University, Cantho, Vietnam

Abstract

The aims of this study were to evaluate the effect of adding biochar to feed and chicken litter on growth performance, hematological and biochemical blood parameters, fecal E.coli and litter total coliforms. The experiment was designed as a 2*2 factorial in a completely randomized design with four replicates; factor 1 was biochar in feed (No biochar: FBio0 or biochar 1%: FBio1); factor 2 was biochar in chicken litter (No biochar: LBio0 or biochar 1%: LBio1). Biochar was made from rice husk. One-day-old local chickens (Noi lai breed) (n=192) were used with 12 chickens per treatment/replicate.

Supplementing chicken feed with 1% rice husk biochar or adding it to the litter reduced plasma triglycerides, total coliform in litter and E. coli in feces, but had no impact on live weight gain, feed consumption and feed conversion ratio.

Key words: E. coli, coliform, feed conversion, prebiotic

Introduction

Biochar is a carbon-rich product obtained from the carbonization of biomass. It is commonly used as a soil amendment for crop production and has been shown to increase nutrient availability, soil organic matter, water holding capacity and growth rates of many plants, vegetables (Lehmann 2007; Preston 2015; Bouaravong et al 2017).

The use of antibiotics as feed additives to suppress gut bacteria has been banned in the EU (Huyghebaert et al 2011) and in Vietnam (2017) because of concern to human health in terms of antibiotic resistant microbes and residual antibiotic presence in animal products (Marshall et al 2011). Many studies have been done to find alternatives to antibiotics in animal diets. Biochar amended feed showed its potential in control of poultry zoonotic pathogens (Prsai et al 2016), but few studies have been conducted using biochar as a feed additive in animal production.

The purpose of this study was to access the effects on growth performance, blood parameters and fecal bacteria of local chicken (Noi lai) when biochar was added to the diet or to the litter on which the birds were raised.

Materials and methods

Location and duration

This experiment was conducted at a farm in Binh Thuy district, Cantho province, Vietnam from December 2017 to March 2018.

Experimental design

The experiment was arranged according to a 2*2 factorial in a completely randomized design (CRD) with four replicates. The factors were:

Biochar in feed: 0 (FBio0) and 1% (FBio1) of weight of feed

Biochar in litter: 0 (LBio0) and 1% (LBio1) of weight of rice husk (used as chicken litter)

One-day-old old local chicks (Noi lai breed; Photo 1) (n=192) were used with twelve per treatment/replicate (equal males and females).

Management and measurements

The trial started after the incubation period (three weeks) and lasted 11 weeks. All birds were vaccinated against infectious diseases; they were subjected to 24 hours of light/day and had free access to feed and water.

Feed intake was recorded by feeding weighed quantities of feed daily and subtracting the left over from the previous day. The birds were weighed at the start, weekly and at the end. Feed conversion ratio was calculated as the ratio of feed consumed to live weight gain.

Experimental feeds

The biochar was prepared by pyrolysis of rice husk (Photo 2; Table 1). The diet was based on maize and soybean meal (Table 2).

Photo 1. One day old Noi lai chicks (incubation period)

Photo 2. Making biochar from rice husk

Haematological parameters

At the end of the experiment, blood samples were taken from the wing vein in the morning before feeding using sterilized syringe and needles and EDTA anticoagulant-treated test tubes. The counts of red blood cells (RBC) and white blood cells (WBC) were determined by a haemocytometer method using the Natt-Herrick solution; haematocrit values were measured by microhematocrit methods (Kececi et al 1998). Plasma was collected by centrifugation at 3000 x g for 15 minutes and total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and HLD-cholesterol and triglycerides were determined using a biochemistry analyser (Siemens Advia 1200).

Isolation and identification of cloacal E. Coliand fecal litter Coliform

To determine bacteria E. coli, cloacal fecal samples were collected (n = 192), while total Coliforms were taken from chicken litter (included faeces and litter, n = 80). Pooled samples of each were done with 8 replicates for E. coli and 4 for total coliform, respectively. The samples were kept at 4^oC until microbiological examination. Cloacal fecal E. coli samples were cultured by colony-count technique at 44°C using 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl -D-glucuronide (ISO 16649-2:2001). Total Coliforms in chicken litter were determined by horizontal method for the enumeration of coliforms - colony-count technique (ISO 4832:2006).

Detection of parasite eggs in feces

Parasite eggs in faeces (from hookworm, ascarid, whipworm, tapeworm and coccidia) were tested by the Modified Wisconsin Sugar Centrifugal-Flotation Method, according to Pittman et al (2010).

Statistical analysis

Data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using the General Linear Model (GLM) available in Minitab 13.2. The Tukey test in the same software was used to detect significant differences among treatment means.

Results and discussion

Growth performance

Addition of biochar in feed or in the litter did not affect the feed intake, weight gain or feed conversion. However, it appeared that the birds fed biochar or had access to biochar in the litter were stronger and healthier than those without access to biochar.

Pharmacological effects of biochar

All chickens were healthy with only two deaths (one on FBio0*LBio0 and one on FBio0* LBio1) during incubation period due to cold and windy weather caused by the Typhoon. Intake of biochar did not influence numbers of red and white blood cells nor hemoglobin. However, content of plasma triglycerides was reduced in chickens fed biochar and litter inclusion of biochar (Table 4 and Figure 1). It seemed that chicken consumed more biochar in chicken litter as they pecked black particles in their feed.

Figure 1. Effect of biochar on plasma triglycerides

Anti-microbial effect of biochar

There was no evidence of parasites (hookworm, ascarid, whipworm, tapeworm and coccidia) in intestine and fecal samples.

The addition of biochar into chicken feed reduced total Coliforms in litter from 1.4x10⁶ to 5.1x10⁵ CFU/g and E. coli from 1.7x10⁶ to 8.2x10⁵ CFU/g (Table 5; Figure 2 and 3). Prasai et al (2017) reported that biochar inhibited growth of microbial pathogens. Other studies indicated the effective role of biochar in removing E. coli from storm water (Mohanty et al 2014) and for water purification (Gwenzi et al 2017).

Figure 2. Effect of biochar in feed and litter on fecal E. coli	Figure 3. Effect of biochar in feed and litter on Coliforms in litter

Discussion

The reports on feeding biochar to chickens are variable. Jiya et al (2013) reported better growth rate and higher final body weighs for broilers fed a diet supplemented with 2% activated coconut shell charcoal during the starter phase. In contrast, Hållbar (2014) found that 0.5 or 1% biochar made from broiler litter had no impact on weight gain, feed consumption, feed conversion ratio or health of broiler chicken; they supposed the reason could be due to the source of biochar.

There are increasing numbers of studies showing benefits from feeding 1% dietary biochar on growth and feed conversion in cattle (Leng et al 2014; Sengsouly and Preston 2016), goats (Silivong et al al 2016; Le Thi Thuy Hang et a 2018), pigs (Sivilai et al 2018) and fish (Lan et al 2016). Benefits from feeding biochar to all classes of livestock could be ascribed to the possibility that biochar binds toxins from the feed which are either excreted in the feces or degraded by some organisms in the animal’s gut microbiome (Leng 2018, personal communication).

Conclusion

• Supplementing chicken feed with 1% rice husk biochar or adding it to the litter reduced plasma triglycerides, total coliform in litter and E. coli in feces, but had no impact on live weight gain, feed consumption and feed conversion ratio.

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to express sincere gratitude to Professor Thomas R Preston for valuable advice in this research.

References

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Received 10 June 2018; Accepted 22 June 2018; Published 3 July 2018

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