Beijing Research and Development Center for Grass and Environment, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China.
Poult Sci. 2019 May 1;98(5):2250-2259. doi: 10.3382/ps/pey550.
This study was conducted to investigate the effects of alfalfa meal supplementation on growth performance, carcass characteristics, meat and egg quality, and intestinal microbiota in chickens. A total of 600 healthy 20-wk female Beijing-you chickens (a local Chinese chicken breed) were selected and randomly assigned into 4 dietary treatments: 0, 5, 8, and 10% alfalfa meal supplementation. Chickens were raised in a free-range system for 56 d. Microbiota inhabiting 3 different intestinal sections (duodenum, ileum, and cecum) was determined using high-throughput sequencing. The results showed that chickens given alfalfa meal had lower (P < 0.05) feed conversion ratio, mortality, abdominal fat yield, and yolk cholesterol content, and higher (P < 0.05) breast muscle contents of inosine monophosphate, total amino acids, essential amino acids, non-essential amino acids, delicious amino acids, yolk protein, albumen protein, and yolk color compared to those given no alfalfa meal. The Lactobacillus was the dominant genus in both duodenum and ileum, while the microbiota in cecum was mainly composed of the Bacteroides. Although small changes in the dominant intestinal microbiota of chickens fed with or without alfalfa meal were observed, supplementation of alfalfa meal tended to stimulate the proliferation of beneficial bacteria, such as the Lactobacillus and Bacteroides, and inhibit potential pathogens, including the Clostridium. Therefore, dietary supplementation of alfalfa meal was feasible to Beijing-you chickens raised in a free-range system, and 10% was recommended as the relatively optimal level.
本研究旨在探讨紫花苜蓿日粮添加对鸡生长性能、胴体特性、肉蛋品质和肠道微生物群的影响。选用 600 只 20 周龄健康的北京油鸡（中国地方鸡种），随机分为 4 个日粮处理组：0、5、8 和 10%紫花苜蓿日粮添加。鸡在自由放养系统中饲养 56 天。采用高通量测序方法测定了 3 个不同肠道段（十二指肠、回肠和盲肠）的微生物群。结果表明，与未添加紫花苜蓿的鸡相比，添加紫花苜蓿的鸡的饲料转化率、死亡率、腹脂产量和蛋黄胆固醇含量较低（P < 0.05），而胸肌肌苷酸、总氨基酸、必需氨基酸、非必需氨基酸、美味氨基酸、蛋黄蛋白、蛋清蛋白和蛋黄颜色含量较高（P < 0.05）。在十二指肠和回肠中，乳杆菌是优势属，而盲肠中的微生物群主要由拟杆菌组成。尽管观察到添加或不添加紫花苜蓿的鸡的主要肠道微生物群发生了微小变化，但紫花苜蓿的添加倾向于刺激有益菌（如乳杆菌和拟杆菌）的增殖，并抑制潜在的病原体，包括梭菌。因此，在自由放养系统中，北京油鸡日粮中添加紫花苜蓿是可行的，建议添加 10%作为相对最佳水平。
