Effect of Dietary Buffer Additions on Gain, Efficiency, Duodenal pH, and Copper Concentration in Liver of Eimeria acervulina-lnfected Chicks

Three experiments were conducted with broiler chicks to investigate the effect of dietary additions of NaHCO3(1%), A1(OH)3(.5%), kaolin(1%), A1(OH)2NaCO3(.23%), CaCO3(.37%), and MgO(1%) on gain, efficiency, duodenal pH, and liver Cu concentration of Eimeria acervulina-infected chicks. Experimental coccidial infection consistently reduced chick gain, efficiency, and duodenal pH, but it increased liver Cu concentration of chicks fed excess Cu. Sodium bicarbonate addition improved chick gain and efficiency slightly, whereas the MgO addition reduced these performance criteria. Sodium bicarbonate improved gain more in coccidiosis-infected chicks than in uninfected chicks, but it failed to alleviate, to any extent, the coccidiosis-induced liver Cu increase of the duodenal pH decrease.