To establish the intestinal histological alterations in chickens fed low-crude protein (CP) or low-crude fat (EE) in long-term isocaloric diets, 60 birds were allotted to three treatments, each with five replicates of four chickens. They were fed the control, low-CP or low-EE diet from the age of 9 to 16 weeks. The chickens receiving the low-CP diet showed a clear reduction in performance and carcass characteristics like breast and wings. However, these adverse effects did not occur in the chickens fed the low-EE diet. The villus height in the duodenum and ileum were lower (P<0.05) in the low-CP group. The duodenal villus area decreased (P<0.05) in both the low-CP and low-EE groups, whereas the ileum showed a lower value (P<0.05) in only the low-CP group. The cell area of the duodenum and jejunum displayed decreasing values (P<0.05) in the low-CP and low-EE groups. As regards the mitotic numbers, the jejunum and ileum showed a decrease (P<0.05) in the low-CP group. On the villus tip surface in the duodenum of the control and low-EE groups, clear protuberant cells and cell clusters with a great number of epithelial cells were found. These cell clusters degraded to faintly dome-shaped cells in the low-CP group, resulting in a lower level of morphological changes than in the other two groups. The epithelial cells on the jejunal and ileal tip surfaces did not show a specific change in the treatment groups. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License (by-nc 3.0). ©Copyright T.

No abstract

To demonstrate the relationship between intestinal histology and function, we investigated the possibility that compensatory enlargement of villi in the chickens' remnant intestine can be induced after 50% or 80% jejunal resection as well as after 50% jejunal plus 70% ileal resection. Compared with intact control chickens, operated chickens showed an almost similar body weight, nitrogen retention, and ether extract digestibility, an improved dry matter digestibility, and a much greater absorption of protein and ether extract by the remnant jejunum and ileum. This suggests an enhanced absorptive function of the remnant intestine. In these chickens, increased value of most light microscopic parameters, increased frequency of anastomosing of each villus, and increased number of protuberated epithelial cells appeared with an increase in the intestinal resection area. This suggests that intestinal villi and epithelial cells are hypertrophied in the remnant jejunum and ileum, and that intestinal villi adapt to activated intestinal absorptive function not by increasing their numbers, but by fusing together into larger villi. These findings demonstrate that intestinal histology is intimately related to intestinal function.

No abstract

To evaluate the effect of dietary dried fermented ginger (DFG) on intestinal villous histological alteration and growth performance, 64 Marshall Chunky male broilers were divided into four groups, each with four replicates of four chickens. Birds were fed the basal commercial mash diet supplemented with DFG at 0 (control), 5, 10 and 20 g/kg for 42 days. With increasing dietary DFG levels, feed intake tended to decrease and significantly decreased in the 20 g/kg DFG group (p < 0.05). Weight gain was higher in all the DFG groups, with the highest in the 10 g/kg DFG group (p < 0.05), resulting in an improved feed efficiency in all the DFG groups. Intestinal villus height, villus area, cell area and cell mitosis in all the intestinal segments were higher in all the DFG groups than in the control group. Protuberated cells and cell clusters were found in all the DFG groups, suggesting that the intestinal villi and cells might be hypertrophied. The present results indicate that dietary DFG can be used as a natural feed additive to induce broiler growth performance as a result of stimulation of morphological maturation and in consequence intestinal function.