China Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine ›› 2021, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (9): 3223-3231.doi: 10.16431/j.cnki.1671-7236.2021.09.013

• Animal Nutrition and Feed Science • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effect of Lignocellulose on Gastrointestinal Development and Intestinal Function of Young Laying Hens

ZHU Lihui1, LYU Wenwei1, KONG Defu2, YANG Changsuo1   

  1. 1. National Poultry Engineering Technology Research Center, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai 201106, China;
    2. Lankao Xiaoming Poultry Industry Co., Ltd., Lankao 475300, China
  • Received:2021-02-03 Online:2021-09-20 Published:2021-09-17

Abstract: This experiment was conducted to study the effects of lignocellulose as an insoluble fiber source on gastrointestinal development and gut function of young layers. A total of 375 28-day-old Hy-line Brown commercial young layers were randomly divided into 3 groups with 5 replicates, and each replicate had 25 chickens. Each group was fed corn-soybean meal diet supplemented with 0 (control group), 8 (0.8% lignocellulose group), and 10 g/kg lignocellulose (1.0% lignocellulose group), respectively. The feeding experiment lasted for 56 days. At the ending of the experiment, the average daily gain, average daily feed intake, and feed to gain ratio were calculated. Additionally, the organ index, ileal digestive enzyme activities, tight junction-related gene expression, and morphological changes were measured. The results showed that, compared with the control group, the addition of lignocellulose had no significant effect on the average daily gain, average daily feed intake, and feed to gain ratio(P>0.05), but significantly increased the weight of muscular stomach and muscular stomach organ index of young layers (P<0.05). Adding lignocellulose significantly increased the villus width and height of chickens (P<0.05), and the villus height of the 1.0% lignocellulose group was higher than that of the 0.8% lignocellulose group (P<0.05). The activities of ileum α-amylase and trypsin and the mRNA levels of tight junction ZO-1 and ZO-2 in the 0.8% lignocellulose group were higher than those in the control group (P<0.05). In conclusion, the addition of 8 g/kg lignocellulose could stimulate the development of muscular stomach, increase intestinal digestive enzyme activities, and improve the integrity of intestinal morphology that maintaining gut health of young layers.

Key words: lignocellulose; young layer; gastrointestinal development; gut health

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