RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Lipids play a vital function in a bird's body and to improve the lipids utilization and their absorption in a bird's digestive system, emulsifiers are suggested. AIMS: This study evaluated and compared the effects of lecithin (LEC) and lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) emulsifiers on broiler chicken's productivity traits and physiological indicators such as blood plasma parameters, intestine traits, short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) profile in caecum's content, caecum's villus height and crypt depth and their ratio. METHODS: 900 Ross 308 broiler chickens were assigned to 3 groups with 6 replicate pens and fed with a standard compound diet (SCD) and an SCD supplemented with 0.05% LEC and 0.05% LPC. Body weight (BW), average daily gain (ADG), daily feed intake (DFI), feed conversion ratio (FCR), and dry matter (DM) content of the litter were recorded. At the end of the trial, 10 birds from each group were randomly selected and euthanized. Blood samples were collected, and blood plasma analysis was performed. Intestinal samples were collected post-mortem and intestinal traits, SCFA profiles, and intestinal histomorphometric were measured. RESULTS: The inclusion of lysophosphatidylcholine significantly increased the broilers' BW and ADG at their fifth week of age (P<0.05). Lecithin increased the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL/C) concentration in blood plasma (P<0.05). Butyric and isovaleric acid concentrations significantly increased by LPC and reduced by LEC (P<0.05). Lecithin and LPC caecum's villus heights were significantly increased (P<0.05), and caecum's crypt depth was also increased in LEC compared to SCD (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: As an emulsifier, lysophosphatidylcholine can improve the broilers' weight, but LEC showed better effects on their physiological indicators by improving intestinal mucosal absorption areas in caecum.
RESUMO
The aim of this experiment was to investigate whether a low-dietary application (15 mg/kg) of an alkaloid preparation containing quaternary benzo[c]phenanthridine alkaloids and obtained from Macleaya cordata (Sangrovit) influenced caecal metabolism, growth performance and long-chain fatty acid composition of breast meat. One-day-old broiler chicks (Cobb 500) were fed a diet without supplement or with a 15 mg/kg dose of Sangrovit (C and A groups respectively) for 5 weeks. Although the A treatment was not accompanied by an enhanced final body weight of broilers, the intake of a diet with Sangrovit influenced the caecal microflora activity. The addition of Sangrovit to a diet decreased potentially harmful ß-glucuronidase and ß-glucosidase activities (p<0.05 and p=0.075 respectively), and at the same time led to a significant increase in activities of bacterial glycolytic enzymes α-glucosidase, α-galactosidase, ß-galactosidase in comparison to the control group. The concentration of total short-chain fatty acids in the caecal digesta was increased in the A treatment contributing to the tendency towards lower caecal pH (p=0.078). The analysis of breast meat fatty acids showed that the dietary application of Sangrovit evoked some changes in contents of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) contents. The applied dosage of Sangrovit caused an increase in the sum of MUFA and the tendency towards lower PUFA sum (p<0.05 and p=0.062 respectively) as in relation with the C group. Although the nutritionally relevant n-6/n-3 PUFA and the (PUFA+MUFA)/saturated fatty acids ratios remained similar in both groups, further research is postulated to establish the effect of this preparation on meat quality. To sum up, despite of a lack of the improvement in final body weight, a low dose of dietary Sangrovit was found to exert positive effects on the caecal metabolism of the broilers.
