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Broiler Performance Enhanced with Sodium Diformate

06 January 2012

GERMANY - Sodium diformate offers a new approach for broilers production worldwide, according to Christian Lückstädt and Sarah Mellor of Addcon.

Evidence of the development of antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria that are pathogenic to humans has mounted over recent decades, and the practice of using sub-therapeutic levels of antibiotics as growth promoters (AGP) in livestock production has been heavily implicated in this resistance.

A number of alternative feed additives to AGPs have been investigated. Among these are acidifiers, supplements including organic acids and their salts, like diformates. Potassium diformate, for instance, the potassium double-salt of formic acid, rapidly gained formal approval as the first legal alternative for in-feed antibiotics in Europe.

Several trials have been carried out in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of sodium diformate (Addcon) under various conditions worldwide.

Two trials are presented in a new report, one at the All-Russian Poultry Institute in Moscow and one at University of Agriculture and Forestry in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam.

From these and other trials, it is concluded that including sodium diformate in broiler diets has beneficial effects on performance by lowering the bacterial pathogen load and improving nutrient digestibility.

These benefits are turned into economic returns, despite the perceived increase in feed cost of using additives.