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The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) that had been biologically synthesized by Bacillus licheniformis to counteract deoxynivalenol (DON) toxicity in laying hens. Ninety-six healthy, 20-week-old laying hens were randomly assigned to four treatment groups, each of which included 3 replicates of 8 layers, and fed four different diets: an uncontaminated basal diet (control group), a 10 mg/kg DON-contaminated basal diet (DON group), a 10 mg/kg DON-contaminated basal diet with 0.5 mg/kg SeNPs (DON+SeNPs group) and the basal diet with 0.5 mg/kg SeNPs (SeNPs group).Serum T-AOC and GPx activities were significantly decreased (P<0.05) in hens fed the DON-contaminated diet, and DON significantly decreased the egg production rate (P<0.05), significantly increased the soft-shelled or cracked egg rate (P<0.05), significantly decreased serum calcium and inhibited the immune systems of the animals according to blood routine indexes. However, SeNPs improved the levels of GPx and T-AOC, increased the egg production rate, significantly decreased the soft-shelled or cracked egg rate (P<0.05), and decreased the influence of DON on the blood routine.In addition, SeNPs significantly (P<0.05) increased serum calcium. However, no differences were observed in egg quality (egg weight, Haugh units, yolk color, eggshell strength and eggshell thickness) among the four groups. These results showed that SeNPs could provide effective anti-oxidative protection against DON toxicity in laying hens, reduced DON's influence on egg production and blood calcium

BackgroundGlucose oxidase is widely used as a livestock feed additive owing to its beneficial effects on growth performance and antioxidant activity. However, little is known about the effects of the enzyme on intestinal health.MethodsTo investigate the effects of glucose oxidase supplementation on the growth performance, intestinal function, and microbiota composition of broilers fed moldy corn, newly hatched Arbor Acres broilers were each randomly assigned to one of four groups, which were fed a basal diet (CON), a contaminated diet (10% moldy corn) (MC), a basal diet supplemented with 0.01% glucose oxidase (GOD), or a contaminated diet supplemented with 0.01% glucose oxidase (MCG).ResultsWe found that the average weight gain (ADG) of the MC group was significantly lower than those of the CON and GOD groups, and there were no significant differences in ADG between the MCG group and the CON and GOD groups. Intestinal morphology results revealed irregularly arranged villi and microvilli in the ilea from the MC group, whereas those from the other three groups were aligned regularly. Tight-junction protein analysis showed that both ZO-1 expression and claudin-4 expression in the MC group were significantly lower than those in the other groups. Inflammation cytokines analysis showed lower serum concentration of interleukin-10, as well as its mRNA expression in the ileum of the MC group, when compared with those of the other groups. Additionally, we observed lower glutathione peroxidase and total superoxide dismutase activity and higher malonaldehyde concentration in the MC group than those in the MCG group. The α and β diversity of microbiota profiling indicated that the cecal microbiota in the MC group differed from those in the other three groups.ConclusionThe results indicated that glucose oxidase supplementation was able to prevent the adverse effects from mycotoxin exposure on growth performance, antioxidant activity, inflammatory response, intestinal function, and microbiota composition in broilers. We suggested that glucose oxidase supplementation can be used in broilers to mitigate the adverse effects of moldy feed, and its benefits are due to its effect on intestinal microbiota composition.