THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON FEED. NUTRITION AND TECHNOLOGY
ELSEVIER INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS INFORMATION - VOLUME 6 NUMBER 3 - 1998NEW EVIDENCE OF
CHARCOAL BENEFIT
Claims ofa beneficial ef
fec t of dietary wood charcoal in poultry diets were
investigated.
Charcoal ioas jound to improve growth p
erformance and ca
r-case
quality of broiler
chick s, and
to reduce the
incidence of
crac ked egg s.
I
n many countries, differ ent types of feed and addit ives are used according to the local con di tions and availability of feeds. Some of these are not cited in th e scien n fic lit era tu re and usually rem ain as an empirical application on local bases.Claims of charcoal benefits
One such app lica tion in poultry nut rition is wood (oak) charcoal inclusion or supplem entation to the diets in Turkey. Local farm ers claim th at 2-S% oak charcoal sup plement at io n to layer diets helps to maintain egg production and animal health when layers exhibit the symp to ms of fatn ess or fatty liver syndrome. A sim ilar claim is also made by local bro iler farmers. who include 2 SOlo oak cha rcoal in the diets to prevent
By Prof
esso r
H
a san
Ri
iHtii
Kutlu
fatness and improve feed conversion efficienc y. Obviousl y. it is of great interest to examine wheth er these claim s are justified.Char
act erisation
of charcoal
The term charcoal gene rally refers to the carbonaceous residue left after heatin g organic matter in absence of oxygen . This very fine, odourless, tasteless black powder, is an adsorbent for many toxins. gases and drugs. The adsorptive powers could be tr em en d o usly increased by treating it with various substances such as steam. air. carbon dioxide, oxygen, zinc chloride. sulph unc or phosph oric acid, or a combinati on of these at temperatures ranging from 500 to 900·C; a treatm ent known as activation .In addition to wood, many other
It is claimed thal charcoal supplementation to layer diets helps maintain egg production and heetllh ofbirds
su bstances are used as sources of charcoal , includin g sucrose , lactose, rice starch, cellulose resid ues. coco nut shells, bone, blood and various industrial wastes. The charcoal examined here was obtain ed from wood (main ly oak) and ground before mixing with feed. As ground, it contains .crude ash (34. 64 ,}',), fibr e (75.72%), protein (2.16%) , ether extr act (1.08%) w ith 94.13'Yo dry matter , however, it is assum ed that it has no energy valu e for poultry and is not absorbed through the digestive tract.
Ad
sorption
pr
op er ties
Charcoal is a valuable agent as an an tidote in many forms of poisoning because of' its adsorbent powers. Adsorptive capacity is often measured by the exten t of adsorptio n of such complex su bstances as dyes. alkaloids. h yd ro xyl ion and neutral salts . Adsorption is not a specific action, thu s charcoal lllay adsor b nutrients such as vitamins, fa ts, enzymes (if charcoal is used in high doses) as well as noxious substances and interfere with digestion. Charcoal which is not absor bed or metabolised is excreted with the faeces.
Th
erapeutic ef
fects
Adsorp tion therapy, ill which toxic molecule s are bound to an inabsorb able car rier (fo r exam ple bent uni te, zeolite , activated charcoal, alum in osilica tes ). which is then elim inated from the intestinal tract, is on e of the im portant methods of preventing the in gested toxicants. The efficacy of var ious agent s to antagonise the effects of tox ic subst ances including aflatoxi ns and mycotoxi ns is of great interest.
Ho shi et al (199 1) in d icate d that activa ted charcoal could be one of the useful strategies for removing lactic acid and for preventing degradation of the
DietaryWood Charcoal ~ 1,90 ~ 1,80 "<t
'"
< ,e
""E '0.:.a
< ,g
1,70 .!!! 2500 -0 <D -'"~
1,60 E 2000 ur E1r:
.s
1,50 u;'"
1500 1,40 1000 2250 ~'"
...
< , 2000 ""E .:.a < , 1750 .E! <::: '0 1500 0 ..:E 0> 1250~
1000 -S 0 <!l 750 0 2,5 _5 _ 10 1·3 1·6 1·3 1-6Weeksof sludy Weeks of sludy
Figure I Effect of dietary charcoal on broiler performance
intrar u m in al micr oflora of steers. nutrruon. The first looked at whether feed conversion efficien cy t han the
Tr eatm ent with activa ted charcoal wood charcoal would affect perfo rm ance , control group (table I, figure I) . The red uced the duration of severe hcpaioxic carcase composition and nutrient best performance was obtaine d with ') ~/;, disease caused by Lantana po isoning a.nd excretion of broilers (Kutlu and unsal, ch ar coa l. III th e tota] period , charcoa l hastened clinical recovery of steers (Mc 1998). Sixty-fo ur, one week old male inclusion did not affe c t perfo rm an ce Leima n and Am os , 19 8 9 ). broi le r chicks were fed isonitrog cni c signifl canl ly.
(23% CP) and isocaloric (305 0 kcal/k g ME) broile r diets base d on maize,
Charcoal in poultry nu
trition
Explana
tion o
f
res
u lt s
soybean mea l, fullfaL soya, meat - bone
Hyd r ate d sodium calc ium meal, fish meal and vegetable oil. Diets Charcoal inclusion 10 the diet alummosilicate added to the diet of layer contained 0, 2.S, S or J0 % ground appeared to reduce abd omina l fat weight
and bro ile r chicks at a level of 0.5% wood ch arco al and were fed ad libitum and carcase fat co ntent although these significant ly reduced the adver seeffect of for a per iod of six weeks . At the end of ch an ges were no n - Significant. In the
feed ing 7.5 mg of aflatoxin B I/ kg feed the experi mental period all the birds were excreta , increased crude fi br e and ether
(Phillips ct ol, (988). Leach er til (19 9 0) slaughtered for carcase analyses. extract was seen with the charcoal-fed
showed that when dietary calcium was Birds receiving charcoa l sho wed bird s , while crude protein , cru d e ash and
de ficien t or marginal, zeolite im pro ved higher feed intake . weight gain and better nitrogen fret' extract were decreased.
calcium utilisation, as evidenced by im pr ove d growth rate and a reduction in rachi t ic lesio n s. Simu lian eo us ad m in is trat ion of activa ted charco al ,
redu ce d glut ath ione (GSH), cysteine ,
seleni um , beta- car o ten e or fisetin with aflatox in B 1 considerably reduced th e
toxic injury to liver (Ad e m eyero and
Dalvi, 1983).
Waibel et til (1972) show ed that when white leghorns were fed on diets with DDT and charcoal , charcoal reduced DDT deposinon in abdomina l fat and in the egg yolk and also red uce d yolk pigmentation . The literature suggests th at activate d charcoal is a strong adsorbent, espe cially for some poisoning an d/o r ant i -n u tr it ional mater ials, which have
detrimental effects fo r anim als and also hu ma n s. However , ill the case of wood charco al, its potential in poultry nutrition has yet to be explored.
Evaluation
o
f d
ietary
w
oo d ch
arcoal
Activated charcoal can be of great benefit 'when an animal consumes toxic materia l. However, it is highly expensive. Wood charcoal could have a similar effec t in terms of its adsorbent cha rac te r istics , and is mu ch less expensive. 'vVe carried out three studies to evalu ate dietar y wo od charcoal in poultry
Porometers Wood chorcool le vel in the diet (%)
0 2.5 5
1-3 weeks of the study
Body weight gain (g/birdl 83 1c 9170 102At.
Feed intake (g / bird/ ) 1246b 13480b 1461"
FCE. 1.500 1.470 1.430
1-6 weeks of the study
Body weightgain (g/bird) 21050 21410 210 20
Feed intake (g/bird) 3760,,- 31"950 37900
FCE. 1.79b 1.77b 1.80b
Carease (wet)
Ca rca se weight (CWg) 16560 16890 1653a
Carcas e yield (%) 73.350 75,320 75. 24<1
Abdominalfat weight (9) 23.50" 21.450 19.470
Abdominal fat
(
%
of GW) 1.40" 1.27" 1.160Dry matter content (%) 32670 34.210 33.7 8"
Fa t content (%) 11.740 11.660 10.850
Protein content(%) 20.090b 19.900b 19.58b
Ash content (%) 1.5 % 1.65h 1.74ob
Faeces (dried)
Drymatter (%) 87.13d 87.76c 88.64b
Crude ash content (%) lZ.610 16.21 b 15.19c
Crude fat content (%) 1.72(; 2.640b 3.400
Crude ~ro te in [%) 23.370 21.960b n .92ab
Crude ibre content (%) 1O.13d 16,69c 21.60 b
Nitrog en free extract (%) 321290 30.25b 25 .53c
Means in same rowwith differentsuperscripts differ significantly
Table 1 Effect of dicta!)' chnrcocl on performunce, carease contents and fueces in broiler chicks
Results sug gest that improvements in feed intake, body weight gain and feed
conver sion efficie n cy up to 4- weeks of
age could he ach ieved by including woo d charco al in the diet. These could be attributed to incr eased digestihility and red u ce d anti-nutritional effect s of the diet. Fat excretio n was incr ea sed with
charco al . and it may be that charcoal
could counteract the age- rel ated low
digestion caused by enzyma ti c
inc apability , especially lipase. The
impro vements wi th 5% wood charcoal
cou ld no t he seen in old er ages; perhaps
be caus e old e r birds have. a higher
tolerance. to anti nutritional factors . It may be that charcoal inclusion to the diet
increases broiler performance in early
age s , in which broile r chicks have less
cap a b ili ty for fat digestion and less
tolerance. to anti-nutritional factors in the diet.
Age-related effect
Our initial st u dy suggest ed that
positive effects of dietary wood ch arco al
could vary accord in g to the age. A second stu d y was planned to determine whether
phase application of ch arco al would affect
performance , and carcase yield of broiler
ch ic ks . A phase application of dietary
wood cha rc oal was tested in four die tar y
treatment groups using Six ty - fo u r . on e
week old male broiler chicks for a 6 week
period.
Broiler starter diets (23% CP an d 30.50
k
Kcal
lkg
ME,
trom
\-?, weeks of trial) and finisher diets
meal and vegetab le
oil as rn ain feed
ingredients. The
firs! group was taken as a con trol, the I':'c'Jnd group fed 2..5% wood ch arco al in
ihc starter diet, the third group received
2.5% charc oal in both the start er and
unisher diets and the fourth gronp w as
fed starte r and th e finisher diets containing 5% and 2. .')% wood charcoal, respectively. Birds were slaughtered at 7
weeks old for carcase analyses.
G
reater
benefit in
starterdiet
Durin g the first four week s of age, charcoal in starter diets improved feed
ronvers ion effic ie n cy significantly and
:<Xiy Weighl gain numerically. At the end
ofthe study the groups receivi ng 2.5% of wood ch arco al in the starter diet or in the
Parameters
1·3 weeks of the study Bodyweight gain ~ /b i rd)
Feed intake (g/bir ) FCE.
1-6 w-eeks of the study Bodywei~ht gain ~ /b i rd)
Feed inta e (g/bir ) FCE.
Carease (w-et)
Corcose weitt Ig/bird)
Carcass yiel (%)
Abdominal fatweight(g/bird) 23.600
Abdominal fat (%of CW) 1.38" 9490 10050 994" 14940 14950 1491" 1.57" J.49b 1.50b 2103b 22680 22470 21700b 4409" 45970 44620 44520 2.100 2.030 1.990 2.050 1716b 18450 17980b 17350b 76.85" 77.190 76.08" 75.750 21.690 1.14, Moons in same row withdifferent superscripts differ significantly
Table 2 Effect of charcoal inclusion on performance of broiler chicks
star ter and finisher diet s sh owed higher
bo dy weigh t gain and carcase wei gh t
efficiency than the control group
rece.ivin g no charc oal in the starter and
fin isher diets (table 2,
fi
gme
2). Charc oalinclusio n tended to red nee ab domin al fat
weig ht and abd ominal fat percentage ,
wh ile haVing no signi fic ant effec t on
carc ase yield .
Results showed that beneficial effe ct s
of dietary wood ch arcoal are more
pronounced in the sta r ter diet s than
fini sh er diets,
iur
ther
sllgge.<;[fngtlu; the
( ~l % CPan d 32 00
"Charcoal should
cal/kg ME, from -!-6 weeks of trial)
were prepared
be included to the diet
Ilsing maize,
soybean meal,
at about 2.5% in
fullfat soya. meat
bone meal, fish
early ages"
effect is age dependent. Charc oal sho u ld be included to the diet at about 2..5% in early ages to crea te a boosting effect during th e
first four weeks of
age .
The im p rove
ments achieved
wit h charco al
cou ld be attri bu
ted to increased digestibilit y and reduced
anti-nutritional effects of the diet in early
ages. However, in older birds which are
capable of bett er utilisation of hi.t and
oth er nutrients , ch arc o al inclusion lllay have negative effects Oil fat and tat related
nutri ents abso rpti on.
Charcoal in
layer diets
Our findin gs confi rm the claims of
local br oiler producer s, who claimed that
broiler chick s rec eiving th e diet co nt ain in g 2-5% wood charc oal
per formed better. Layer producers also
made a sim ila r claim, therefore, an
exp er im e nt was initiated to determine
whether wood char coal supp lem en tation .
2300 ~ '<t
~
.;e
E c '5 <.'J .E'3
,2'i'
<0 4600 <u 4200 N -st ... 3800 1:> .:.0 3400 ... E! 3000 -'"'"
o 2600 E "t 2200 u;'"
1800'"
1400 2,15 2,05 C 1,95 '0 ~ 1,8511
~ 1/75 ~ 1,65 1,55 1,45 19.5-40 18.62(1 1.080 1.060Dietary wood Charcoal%
o
2,5 . 5 10 2100 1900 1700 1500 1300Dieklrywood ChorcOQI
0 2,5 a5 . 10 1 - 3 Weeksof study
DietaryWood Chorcoo o 2.5 5 10 1·3 Weeks ofstud1 y · 6 1 -6
Figure 2 Effect of phose applicution ofchorcoo! on
broiler performance
affected layer performance . Fifty-six , 34 week-old , well- perfor mi n g layi ng hens
were allocated into 4 treatment groups
and fed ad libnum WIder a 16: 8 hours
light-dark photo period for 7 weeks. A
standard layer diet (CP:18.0%, ME:27S0 kcal/kg,) was supplemented with 0, l, 2
or 4% ground wood charcoal.
Charco al sup p lementation did not
affect layer perfor m ance significantly
(figure 3). Howev er, the number of
cracked eggs was significantly redu ced (P<O.OS) in a dos e-relate d manner.
Reduced incidence of cracked eggs may
be attribut ed to the improved intes tinal
absorptio n of dietary calciu m and
phosph orus and also perhaps to minerals
ingested with charcoal itself. A slig ht
deteriorat ion in layin g performance of
chic kens receivi n g charcoal could be
attributed to a slightly reduced feed intake
and poorer feed conversion efficiency .
Charcoal may adsorb nutrient s such as
Vitamins, fats and en zym es thereby
reducing feed conversion efficiency. A
high level of dietary wood charcoal wi th
a high bulk density could lim it the
digestive tract an d reduce feed intake.
However, these physical characteristics of wood. charcoa l could be of benefit for layers when they are restricted for feed to
prevent fatness during laying periods.•
'U o "'f < , -" < , .$ Jf .2 .E
....,
Q) ~ cil C» w <,....,
Q) Q) !:!:. w U u... 5550 5500 5450 5400 5350 5300 2,20 2,10 2,00 1,90 1,80 0 1 2 4 Dietary Supp.Wood Charcoal %
0 1 2 4 Dieta ry Supp. Wood Charcoal % >: -0
"
<, ..0 < , .$ .:E C»~
C» w'"
-'U o, '<t < , ""E ;§. a, tB']
u ~ U -0 a Z PcuametersInitial body weight (g /bird )
Bodyweitt chonge (g/bird/49d)
Feed into e[g/bir 149 d)
Total eg~ prod uctionJa/ bii-d/ 4 9 d)
FeE. (FI tota l egg pr ucfion]
Egg production (%) Egg weig ht ~/bird/day) No. of eggs bird (49 days) No. of crocke d eggs/(bird (49 d) Egg shell we i~ht (g/egg)
Egg shellthic ness [prn]
Moons in so me row with different supersc ripts differ significantly
16990 17000 -76.140 20.860 553 90 55030 28590 28140 1.910 1.980 88.050 87.6 10 58.3 40 57 .42 0 43 .140 42.93 0 3.930 3.00ab 7.0 30 6.990 38 2.70 393.10 References
Adcrnoy cro A A, Dalvi R R r9 8 3 Toxicology
Let ters .16: 153-1 5
Ho shi K ct al 19 91 Bulletin of The Nippon Vet and Zo ot ech College
Jindal N . Mahipa Sand Research in Vel Sci. 56: Kutlu , H Rand Uusal I
UK Branch pp 79 -80
Tnhle .3 Effect of dietary wood charcocl supplemenunion on laying performance
Leach R M et al 1990' Poult ry Sci , 69:153 9
] 543
Mcl.cnnan M W , Amos M L 19 8 9 Australian Vet Jou rn al. 66: 9 3-94
Phillips T D. Kubena L. Tay lor D.
Heildelbaugh N 1988 Poult ry Sri (,7: H 3
247
Waibel G P, Speers G M and W,libel I' E
1972 Poultry" Sci S I: 196 3-1 96 7 60 58 56 54 52 50 4 3 2 0 1 2 4 Dietary S pp. Wood Charcoal % 0 1 2 4 Dietary Supp. wood Cha rcoa l % No:4-0, pp 22- 28 Mahaian N K 1994 3 7-40 199 8 Proc WPSA ~ 0 '<t '<, ..D
...
E -ti ~ 0 C» 0> w~
2900 2850 2800 2750 2700 2650 2600 90 88 ~ c -Q 86 u ::> --cJ 0..e
84 C> m w 82 80 0 1 2 4 Dietary Supp. wood Cha rcoa l % I 0 1 2 4 Dietary $upp . Wood Charcoal %'jgure 3 Effect of chnrcocl on layer performance
