Effects of Dietary Inclusion of Raw or Treated Iranian Oak Acorn (Quercus brantii Lindl.) on the Performance and Cecal Bacteria of Broilers

The effects of raw and sodium hydrogen carbonate-treated oak acorn were evaluated on broiler chicken performance and cecal flora. A total of 340 one-day-old broiler chicks were used in a completely randomized design with five experimental treatments and four replicates with 17 birds each. A corn-based diet served as the control and four treatment groups were diets containing 20 or 25% raw or treated oak acorn. Treatment of the acorn with sodium hydrogen carbonate significantly reduced the amount of total phenols and tannins in the feed (P < 0.05). Though there were no significant differences in body weight gain and final body weight between the control and treatment groups, treated oak acorn yielded greater overall weight gain than raw oak acorn. Feeding treated or raw oak acorn impaired feed conversion ratio relative to the control during the starter phase of the study. However, finisher (22-42 d) and overall (1-42 d) feed conversion ratio were similar between control and other treatments. Birds fed 25% treated oak acorn had significantly better overall feed conversion ratio than those fed raw oak acorn (P < 0.05). The relative weight of pancreas, liver, abdominal fat, as well as Lactobacillus and E. Coli counts, were similar between all treatments at 21 and 42 d of age. In conclusion, raw or treated oak acorn could be included in broiler diets up to 25% without negative effects on their performance. The performance may be improved by treating oak acorn with sodium hydrogen carbonate because of reducing the content of phenolic components.