Effects of fermented feeds and ginseng polysaccharides on the intestinal morphology and microbiota composition of Xuefeng black-bone chicken

Abstract

Fermented feeds contain abundant organic acids, amino acids, and small peptides, which improve the nutritional status as well as the morphology and microbiota composition of the intestine. Ginseng polysaccharides exhibit several biological activities and contribute to improving intestinal development. Here, Xuefeng black-bone chickens were fed a basal diet fermented by Bacillus subtilis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Lactobacillus plantarum, and Enterococcus faecium, with or without ginseng polysaccharides. The 100% microbially fermented feed (Fe) and 100% microbially fermented feed and ginseng polysaccharide (FP) groups showed significantly increased villus height and villus height to crypt depth ratio, and decreased crypt depth in the jejunum. In the 100% complete feed and ginseng polysaccharide (Po) group, the villus height to crypt depth ratio was significantly increased, crypt depth was reduced, and villus height remained unaffected. Next, we studied the intestinal microbial composition of 32 Xuefeng black-bone chickens. A total of 10 phyla and 442 genera were identified, among which Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Bacteroidetes were the most dominant phyla. At the genus level, Sutterella and Asteroleplasma abundance increased and decreased, respectively, in the FP and Po groups. Sutterella abundance was positively correlated to villus height and villus height to crypt depth ratio, and negatively correlated to crypt depth, and Asteroleplasma abundance was positively correlated to crypt depth and negatively correlated to villus height to crypt depth ratio. At the species level, the FP group showed significantly increased Bacteroides_vulgatus and Eubacterium_tortuosum and decreased Mycoplasma_gallinarum and Asteroleplasma_anaerobium abundance, and the Po group showed significantly increased Mycoplasma_gallinarum and Asteroleplasma_anaerobium abundance. Moreover, bacterial abundance was closely related to the jejunum histomorphology. Asteroleplasma_anaerobium abundance was positively correlated with crypt depth and negatively correlated with villus height to crypt depth ratio. Mycoplasma_gallinarum abundance was positively correlated to villus height, and Bacteroides_vulgatus and Eubacterium_tortuosum abundance was positively correlated with villus height to crypt

Effects of Different Fermented Feeds on Production Performance, Cecal Microorganisms, and Intestinal Immunity of Laying Hens

“…VH, CD, and VH/CD are crucial in the intestinal health of animals, which are directly related to the absorption capacity of intestinal mucosa. Studies have reported that morphological changes of the small intestine, such as increasing VH and decreasing CD, enhanced gut digestion and absorption [60,61], which was also found in the current study. Our results showed that FF increased VH of each intestinal segment, decreased jejunal CD, and increased the VH/CD ratio.…”

Effects of dietary compound acidifiers supplementation on growth performance and intestinal health of juvenile American eels (Anguilla rostrata) cultured in cement tanks

“…Sutterella was reported to produce acetic acid by fermenting incubation (Gao et al, 2018), it was widely prevalent in the human gastrointestinal tract. Its deficiency might alter the colonic microbiota to disrupt the normal function of the colonic epithelium and induce inflammatory bowel disease (Xie et al, 2020). Sutterella could be used as a potential probiotic capable of improving the growth rate and the feed conversion ratio of chickens (Biasato et al, 2019).…”

Palygorskite combined probiotics improve the laying performance, hatching performance, egg quality, plasma antioxidative status, and immune response of broiler breeders

“…Xuefeng black-bone chicken is a famous native breed in the Hunan province of China, which favoured by people due to its high nutritional value. However, there are still problems in the Xuefeng black-bone chicken industry, such as long feeding periods and low laying rate which need some measure to solve Xie et al 2020). Previous studies revealed that Pal or Pro can mitigate the adverse effects of mycotoxins on production performance, and change intestinal morphology and barrier function of animals (Cheng et al 2018;Sli_ zewska et al 2019;Wu et al 2019).…”