Commercial poultry often experience stress challenges ranging from extreme ambient temperatures to routine management practices including catching, relocation, and vaccination. These challenges can result in loss of appetite, lethargy, reduced body weight gain, loss of feed efficiency, and increased mortality.

Products such as Diamond V Original XPC™ can be effective in helping to manage production-related challenges that can negatively affect performance.

Although birds under stress may reduce feed intake, they often sustain water consumption. Diamond V now offers a new liquid product for administration via drinking water. Using proprietary technology and comprised of similar metabolites to Original XPC, AviCare™ is designed to support the health and well-being of birds during times of production challenges, when feed consumption may be suppressed.

Dr Don McIntyre of Diamond V and Dr Jesse Grimes of North Carolina State University investigated the effects of AviCare in the drinking water – with and without Original XPC in the feed – on performance of commercial turkeys during a known stress challenge. The challenge conditions consisted of used litter, live coccidia vaccination, and 12-hour fasting.

The researchers found that both AviCare in the water and AviCare in the water plus Original XPC (XPC) in the feed reduced corticosterone levels following fasting. Likewise, both AviCare and AviCare-plus-XPC improved feed conversion, with AviCare-plus-XPC generating feed efficiency and growth performance similar to non-stressed birds.

This research was presented at the International Poultry Scientific Forum on 26 to 27 January, in Atlanta, USA.

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