scholarly journals Effects of chitosan supplementation on the growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and digestive enzyme activity in weaned pigs

2014 ◽  
Vol 59 (No. 4) ◽  
pp. 156-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Xu ◽  
B. Shi ◽  
S. Yan ◽  
J. Li ◽  
T. Li ◽  
...  

The present experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of dietary chitosan on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and digestive enzyme activities in weaned pigs. A total of 180 weaned pigs (35 days of age, 11.56 ± 1.61 kg of body weight (BW)) were selected and assigned randomly to 5 treatments containing 0, 100, 500, 1000, and 2000 mg chitosan per kg feed, respectively. Each treatment involved six replicate pens and six pigs per pen. On days 14 and 28, all pigs were weighed and six from each treatment (one from each replicate pen) were killed, and the contents of the stomach, jejunum, and rectum were collected and used for determining nutrient digestibility and digestive enzyme activity. The results showed that supplementation of chitosan improved quadratically average daily gain (ADG) (P < 0.05). Moreover, dietary chitosan quadratically (P < 0.05) increased apparent digestibility of crude protein (CP) on days 14 and 28, and quadratically increased apparent digestibility of dry matter (DM) on day 14 and of Ca and P on day 28, whereas decreased (P < 0.05) apparent digestibility of ether extract in comparison with the control diet. In addition, dietary chitosan quadratically increased (P = 0.062) amylase activity of proximal jejunum and decreased (P < 0.05) lipase activity of distal jejunum compared with the control. These data indicated that diets supplemented with increasing levels of chitosan (0, 100, 500, 1000, and 2000 mg chitosan per kg) quadratically improved ADG of weaned pigs. The growth-promoting action was achieved probably by improved digestibility of major nutrients (DM, CP, Ca, and P) and increased amylase activity of jejunum.  

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuanyuan Wang ◽  
Chianning Heng ◽  
Xihong Zhou ◽  
Guangtian Cao ◽  
Lei Jiang ◽  
...  

Abstract The present study investigated the effect of Bacillus subtilis DSM 29784 (Ba) and enzymes (xylanase and β-glucanases; Enz), alone or in combination (BE) as antibiotic replacements, on the growth performance, digestive enzyme activity, immune response and the intestinal barrier of broiler chickens. In total, 1200 1-d-old broilers were randomly assigned to five dietary treatments, each with six replicate pens of forty birds for 63 d as follows: (a) basal diet (control), supplemented with (b) 1 × 109 colony-forming units (cfu)/kg Ba, (c) 300 mg/kg Enz, (d) 1 × 109 cfu/kg Ba and 300 mg/kg Enz and (e) 250 mg/kg enramycin (ER). Ba, Enz and BE, similar to ER, decreased the feed conversion rate, maintained intestinal integrity with a higher villus height:crypt depth ratio and increased the numbers of goblet cells. The BE group exhibited higher expression of claudin-1 and mucin 2 than the other four groups. BE supplementation significantly increased the α-diversity and β-diversity of the intestinal microbiota and markedly enhanced lipase activity in the duodenal mucosa. Serum endotoxin was significantly decreased in the BE group. Compared with those in the control group, increased superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase activities were observed in the jejunal mucosa of the Ba and BE groups, respectively. In conclusion, the results suggested that dietary treatment with Ba, Enz or BE has beneficial effects on growth performance and anti-oxidative capacity, and BE had better effects than Ba or Enz alone on digestive enzyme activity and the intestinal microbiota. Ba or Enz could be used as an alternative to antibiotics for broiler chickens.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zaigui Wang ◽  
Ru Yang ◽  
Salman Khan ◽  
Chunjie wei ◽  
Hu Qian ◽  
...  

Abstract The broiler chicks provide the major portion of daily food items. The current study aimed to investigate the effects of Bacillus subtilis (BS) on broiler chicken gut microflora diversity, digestive enzyme activity and expression of Toll-like receptors (TLRs). A total of 240 crossbred broiler chickens were randomly allocated into 4 groups with 3 replicates. The groups were named as control group (basal diet, BD), group Ⅰ (BD with 300 g/d BS,1.08×107 CFU/kg), group Ⅱ (BD with 600 g/d BS, 2.16×107 CFU/kg), and group Ⅲ (BD with 900 g/d BS, 3.24×107 CFU/kg). Samples were collected at the 21st day. The difference of α diversity and β diversity between control group and treatment groups were not significant, but the abundance of some microorganisms in the treatment groups were improved, and the core microorganisms were different between groups. In comparison of control group, the protease activity in ileum of experimental groups was significantly increased (p < 0.05). Protease activity in ileum of group Ⅱ and Ⅲ was improved by 22.59% (p < 0.01) and 14.49% (p < 0.05). The amylase activity in ileum of treatment groups were also significantly increased (p < 0.05). Amylase activity of group Ⅱ was increased by 41.85% (p < 0.01) in comparison to control, group Ⅰ and Ⅲ. Expression of TLR1A and TLR7 in the jejunum and caecum of treatment groups were significantly up-regulated while their expression in ileum was decreased. Similarly, the expression of TLR1B gene was significantly improved in the ileum, and down regulated in the cecum. Transcription levels of TLR2A and MyD88 in jejunum, liver, spleen and kidney were significantly increased, but their expression was significantly lower in the ileum and cecum. The TLR2B, TLR3, TLR4, TLR15, TLR21 expression were also significantly modulated in various organ of broiler chicken. The most important inflammatory factor such as IL-1β expressions in spleen and kidney were significantly increased in the current data. Bacillus subtilis could not regulate the caecal microflora diversity, but improved amount of some gut probiotics such as lactobacillus, the digestive enzyme activity, regulate some immunogenic expressions and enhance the immune capacity of animal. We hope that the impact of this data will explore the diseases control and feeding quality of broiler chicks at industrial level.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document