Butyrate in feed: tributyrin or sodium butyrate?
What sets the three forms of butyrate apart, criterion by criterion, and how to choose for your feed.
In short
In animal feed, butyrate means butyric acid supplied in a form the feed mill can handle: a sodium or calcium salt, plain or coated, or a glyceride such as tributyrin. Butyric acid is a short-chain fatty acid that the cells of the intestinal lining use as an energy source. The form chosen decides where in the gut it is released, how it stands up to pelleting and how it smells at the mill.
- Forms
- Plain salt, coated salt, tributyrin
- Species
- Poultry, pigs, aquaculture
- Use
- At the feed mill or in a premix
- What sets them apart
- Release site, behaviour at the press, odour
Butyrate or butyric acid in feed: what are we talking about?
The same molecule. Butyric acid is a four-carbon fatty acid: a volatile liquid with a smell that lingers. In that free form it cannot be dosed into a dry feed. Butyrate is its bound form: a salt, where the acid is neutralised by sodium or calcium, or an ester, where it is attached to a glycerol. As a feed additive, butyric acid is therefore always supplied as a butyrate.
Why add butyrate to animal feed? Because the cells lining the intestine use it as an energy source. In poultry and pigs, most of the butyric acid naturally present in the gut comes from fermentation at its far end; butyrate in poultry feed or pig feed is there to make it available higher up, in the small intestine, where nutrients are absorbed.
In cattle the question is a different one: the rumen produces its own butyric acid as it ferments the ration. This page deals with poultry, pigs and aquaculture, the species of the Linker platforms concerned.
In what follows, “sodium butyrate” also stands for calcium butyrate. Both salts supply the same butyric acid and compare with tributyrin in the same way; what separates them, the ion they bring and their sensitivity to moisture, is explained on the Linkasel page.
Three forms, three ways of holding the butyrate
It all comes down to what holds the butyric acid, and what lets it go.
- Plain salt. Sodium or calcium butyrate with no protection. Nothing holds it back: it dissolves in the stomach and the start of the small intestine. It is the simplest and most concentrated form; it is also the one that smells most.
- Coated salt. The same salt inside a coating, also called protected butyrate. This is a physical barrier. It limits odour and dust and delays release, which then happens along the intestine as the coating breaks down. It has two trade-offs: it dilutes the butyrate, and it has to come out of the mixer, the conditioner and the press intact.
- Tributyrin. Three butyric acids attached to a glycerol by an ester bond. Here the protection is chemical: the bond withstands stomach acid, and it is an enzyme, pancreatic lipase, that cleaves it in the small intestine. There is no coating to preserve, and no free butyric acid as long as the bond holds.
Tributyrin vs sodium butyrate, criterion by criterion
Neither form is better in absolute terms: they do not aim at the same part of the gut and do not raise the same questions at the mill.
| Criterion | Sodium butyrateThe salt of butyric acid, plain or coated. The calcium salt compares in the same way.linkasel → | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A salt: butyric acid neutralised by sodium, or by calcium. | An ester: a triglyceride, butyric acid bound to a glycerol. |
| What holds the butyrate | Plain: nothing. Coated: a physical barrier, the coating. | A chemical bond that only a lipase cleaves. |
| Where the butyrate is released | Plain: in the stomach and the start of the small intestine. Coated: further on, along the intestine, depending on the coating. | In the small intestine, when pancreatic lipase detaches the butyric acids from the glycerol. |
| At pelleting | The salt itself withstands the temperature. With a coated form, it is the coating that has to be checked: steam, heat and friction can damage it. | No coating to preserve: the ester bond is not affected by the press. Added at the mixer, before the press. |
| Odour at the mixing station | Plain: strong, and it clings. Coated: reduced, as is dust. | None of the smell of free butyric acid. |
| Moisture and storage | Sodium butyrate attracts moisture, the calcium salt less so. In every case: closed bags, kept dry and away from heat. | An ester, not a salt: it does not draw moisture from the air the way sodium butyrate does. |
| What the form adds to the formula | Sodium or calcium, to be counted in the mineral balance. | Glycerol; neither sodium nor calcium. |
| To compare two offers | The butyrate supplied per kilo depends on the concentration of the salt and, for a coated form, on the room the coating takes. | One molecule carries three butyric acids; the butyrate supplied per kilo depends on the concentration of the powder. |
| Presentation | Powders and coated granule. | Free-flowing powder. |
Choose a salt
When the butyrate has to be available early, in the stomach and the start of the intestine: a plain salt is enough, and there is no point adding a protection the feed does not need.
Choose tributyrin
When you are aiming at the small intestine without relying on a coating to survive feed manufacturing.
Neither rules out the other, and a coated salt keeps its place. The detail, situation by situation, is in how to choose.
How to choose: start from the feed, not from the product
Six situations met at the mill, and the form to look at first.
| Your situation | Look first at | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You are aiming at the stomach and the start of the intestine, in mash or in pellets | A plain salt | It is released early and there is nothing to preserve. Allow for the smell at the mixing station and for dry storage. |
| You are aiming at the small intestine, with a feed pelleted under harsh conditions | Tributyrin | The ester bond is not affected by the press. A coated salt remains possible, provided its coating has been checked on your line. |
| Odour is a problem at the mill | Tributyrin, or a coated salt | No free butyric acid with tributyrin; a coating reduces the odour and dust of a salt. |
| Hot, humid climate and long storage | A calcium salt or tributyrin, rather than a plain sodium butyrate | Sodium butyrate draws moisture from the air; the calcium salt is less sensitive to it, and an ester does not behave like a salt. In every case, closed bags kept dry. |
| Sodium or calcium is already tightly accounted for in the formula | Tributyrin | It brings neither. |
| You want butyrate early, and further along the intestine | Two forms combined | A plain salt for the upper gut, a coated form or tributyrin for the small intestine: they do not release in the same place. |
This table points the way; it does not set a rate. The rate is on the page of each platform where it is published, or available on request: it depends on the species, the stage and the form chosen.
Comparing two offers: at equal butyrate, not per kilo of product
A kilo of plain salt, a kilo of coated salt and a kilo of tributyrin powder do not supply the same amount of butyric acid. The concentration of the salt, the room the coating takes and the concentration of the powder change everything: setting two inclusion rates side by side tells you nothing. A fair comparison takes three steps.
- What is supplied. The amount of butyric acid per tonne of feed, worked out from the technical data sheet of each product and the planned rate.
- Where it is released. At equal amounts, a plain salt and a tributyrin do not deliver butyrate to the same segment of the intestine: the two figures only compare if the target is the same.
- What is left after your process. For a coated form, the share that comes out of the press intact; for every form, how evenly it is mixed.
What the published trials comparing the two forms say
One published broiler trial has set butyric acid glycerides beside a coated sodium butyrate. It was not run on a Linker product: it is a publication on the ingredient.
Its result can be read on the Linkatrib page, once published, with its conditions; its reference is in the sources, and the details are available on request. The choice between the two forms is made on the criteria of the comparison, not on a performance promise.
Tributyrin vs sodium butyrate for gut health: what can be said
The question often comes in this form: which of the two is better for gut health? What the literature describes belongs to the molecule, not to the form. Butyric acid is an energy source for the cells of the intestinal epithelium, and it is linked to the renewal of that epithelium and to the integrity of the barrier it forms.
The form does not change what the molecule does; it changes where it arrives, and how much of it arrives. So this is the same question as above, asked differently: which segment of the intestine are you aiming at, and how much butyrate is left once the feed has been made?
Butyrate remains a feed ingredient. It belongs in a programme, with formulation, water and management, for example around the piglet weaning transition; it does not settle a health problem in progress, which is a matter for the veterinarian. Linker products are additives and supplements for feed and drinking water, used within a farm’s programme.
The Linker platforms concerned
Linker offers both forms: this comparison takes no side.
| Platform | Its role here |
|---|---|
| linkaselButyrate · feed | Sodium and calcium butyrates, plain or coated, alone or combined: the form is chosen according to the feed and the segment aimed at. |
| linkatribTributyrin · feed | Butyric acid glycerides, as a free-flowing powder: butyrate released in the small intestine, without a coating. |
Grades, rate and documents: on the page of each platform.
Sources
- Ismael et al., 2025. Comparative effects of dietary sodium butyrate and tributyrin on broiler chickens’ performance, gene expression, intestinal histomorphometry, blood indices, and litter (external site)Scientific Reports · accessed
Sources checked on .
A publication on the ingredient, not a trial on a Linker product: an independent university study. Its figures are not reproduced on this page.
Frequently asked questions
Butyrate vs butyric acid: is it the same thing?
Yes, the same molecule in two states. Free butyric acid is a volatile, strong-smelling liquid; butyrate is its bound form, a sodium or calcium salt, or an ester such as tributyrin. In a dry feed, it is always a bound form that is added. Sodium butyrate vs butyric acid, tributyrin vs butyric acid: in each case the first is a way of carrying the second.
Coated sodium butyrate vs tributyrin: what is the difference?
Both aim to carry butyrate beyond the stomach, by two different means. The coated salt relies on a physical barrier, which delays release but has to survive feed manufacturing. Tributyrin relies on a chemical bond, cleaved by lipase in the small intestine: there is no coating to preserve.
Which one stands up better to pelleting?
Tributyrin has no coating to preserve: the ester bond is not affected by the press. A plain salt is not affected by the temperature either. The question arises for a coated salt: how well the coating holds depends on steam, temperature and friction, and it has to be checked on your line.
Can a butyrate salt and tributyrin be combined?
Yes. The two forms do not release butyrate in the same place: a plain salt acts early, a tributyrin in the small intestine. Some feeds combine both. The split is decided on the formula, the species and the stage.
Is the inclusion rate the same for tributyrin and sodium butyrate?
No. You do not compare kilos of product but the amount of butyric acid supplied per tonne of feed, which depends on the concentration of each product. The rate for each platform is on its page where it is published, or available on request.
Tributyrin or sodium butyrate for gut health in poultry and pigs?
Both supply the same butyric acid, an energy source for the cells of the intestinal lining. They differ in where it is released: the choice depends on the segment you are aiming at and on how your feed is made, not on one form being better for the gut in general.
Choose the form for your feed
Your formula
Species, stage, mash or pellets, pelleting conditions, segment aimed at: with these, a technician will suggest a form, or both.
Talk to a formulator →All the levers: Digestion and performance →A trial on your site
Do you want to compare the two forms under your own conditions? We write the protocol with you, at an equal supply of butyric acid, and the decision rule before the start.
Propose a comparative trial →How we set up a trial →