Wassie Teketay, Lu Zhuang, Duan Xinyi, Xie Chunyan, Gebeyew Kefyalew, Yumei Zhang, Yin Yulong, Wu Xin
Key Laboratory of Agro-ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, National Engineering Laboratory for Pollution Control and Waste Utilization in Livestock and Poultry Production, Hunan Provincial Engineering Research Center for Healthy Livestock and Poultry Production, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha, China.
College of Resources and Environment, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China.
Front Nutr. 2021 Nov 29;8:783819. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2021.783819. eCollection 2021.
Marine algae polysaccharides have been shown to regulate various biological activities, such as immune modulation, antioxidant, antidiabetic, and hypolipidemic. However, litter is known about the interaction of these polysaccharides with the gut microbiota. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of marine algae polysaccharide (EP) supplementation on growth performance, immune response, and caecal microbiota of broiler chickens. A total of 200 1-day-old Ross-308 broiler chickens were randomly divided into two treatment groups with ten replications of ten chickens in each replication. The dietary treatments consisted of the control group (fed basal diet), and EP group (received diet supplemented with 400 mg EP/kg diet). Results showed that chickens fed EP exhibited significantly higher ( < 0.05) body weight and average daily gain than the chicken-fed basal diet. In addition, significantly longer villus height, shorter crypt depth, and higher villus height to crypt depth ratio were observed in the jejunal and ileal tissues of chickens fed EP. EP supplementation upregulated the mRNA expression of NF-κB, TLR4, MyD88, IL-2, IFN-α, and IL-1β in the ileal and jejunal tissues ( < 0.05). Besides, we observed significantly higher ( < 0.05) short-chain volatile fatty acids (SCFAs) levels in the caecal contents of the EP group than in the control group. Furthermore, 16S-rRNA analysis revealed that EP supplementation altered gut microbiota and caused an abundance shift at the phylum and genus level in broiler chicken. Interestingly, we observed an association between microbiota and SCFAs production. Overall, this study demonstrated that supplementation of diet with EP promotes growth performance, improves intestinal immune response and integrity, and modulates the caecal microbiota of broiler chickens. This study highlighted the application of marine algae polysaccharides as an antibiotic alternative for chickens. Furthermore, it provides insight to develop marine algae polysaccharide-based functional food and therapeutic agent.
海藻多糖已被证明可调节多种生物活性，如免疫调节、抗氧化、抗糖尿病和降血脂。然而，关于这些多糖与肠道微生物群的相互作用却知之甚少。本研究旨在评估添加海藻多糖（EP）对肉鸡生长性能、免疫反应和盲肠微生物群的影响。总共200只1日龄的罗斯308肉鸡被随机分为两个处理组，每组10个重复，每个重复10只鸡。日粮处理包括对照组（饲喂基础日粮）和EP组（日粮中添加400 mg EP/kg）。结果表明，饲喂EP的鸡的体重和平均日增重显著高于饲喂基础日粮的鸡（P<0.05）。此外，在饲喂EP的鸡的空肠和回肠组织中观察到绒毛高度显著更长、隐窝深度更短以及绒毛高度与隐窝深度比值更高。添加EP上调了回肠和空肠组织中NF-κB、TLR4、MyD88、IL-2、IFN-α和IL-1β的mRNA表达（P<0.05）。此外，我们观察到EP组盲肠内容物中的短链挥发性脂肪酸（SCFAs）水平显著高于对照组（P<0.05）。此外，16S-rRNA分析表明，添加EP改变了肉鸡的肠道微生物群，并导致门和属水平的丰度变化。有趣的是，我们观察到微生物群与SCFAs产生之间存在关联。总体而言，本研究表明，日粮中添加EP可促进肉鸡的生长性能，改善肠道免疫反应和完整性，并调节盲肠微生物群。本研究强调了海藻多糖作为鸡抗生素替代品的应用。此外，它为开发基于海藻多糖的功能性食品和治疗剂提供了思路。
