Dietary Fiber Level Improve Growth Performance, Nutrient Digestibility, Immune and Intestinal Morphology of Broilers from Day 22 to 42

Abstract

There are few systematic studies on the dietary fiber requirements of broilers in the late feeding stage, and there are not enough data to support this hypothesis. This experiment was conducted to examine the effects of dietary fiber level on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, immune function and intestinal morphology of broilers from day 22 to 42. A total of 480 one-day-old Arbor Acres broilers with half male and half female were randomly allocated into four groups, with eight replicates in each group and fifteen chickens in each replicate. The experimental period was 42 days. All broilers were fed a basal diet from 1 to 21 days. During the 22–42 day period, the four experimental groups were fed diets with soybean hulls as the fiber source, and crude fiber (CF) levels were 2%, 5%, 8% and 11%, respectively. The results showed that during the 29–42 day period, the average daily feed intake (ADFI) of broilers was higher in the 5% CF and 8% CF groups (p < 0.05), and during the 29–35 day period, the average daily gain (ADG) of broilers was higher and the ratio of feed and gain (F/G) of broilers was lower in the 5% CF and 8% CF groups (p < 0.05). The digestibility of crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), CF, acid detergent fiber (ADF) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) was higher in broilers of the 8% CF group (p < 0.05). The immunoglobulin A (IgA), immunoglobulin G (IgG) and immunoglobulin M (IgM) content of the plasma of broilers was higher in the 8% CF group (p < 0.05). The villus height (VH) of the duodenum, jejunum and ileum of broilers was higher, and the crypt depth (CD) was lower in the 8% CF group than that in the 2% CF group (p < 0.05). The ratio of VH and CD (V/C) of the duodenum and jejunum of broilers in the 8% CF group was higher than that in the 2% CF group (p < 0.05). The quadratic regression analysis showed that the optimum dietary CF level was 7–9%. In conclusion, under the conditions of this experiment, a diet of 7–9% CF may promote growth performance by improving the nutrient digestibility, immunity and intestinal morphology of broilers from day 22 to 42.

Impacts of Solid-State Fermented Barley with Fibrolytic Exogenous Enzymes on Feed Utilization, and Antioxidant Status of Broiler Chickens

“…The dietary groups comprised a control (on corn-soybean-based diet) and three other groups in which fermented barley with enzymatic treatment (FBEs) was included at levels of 5, 10 and 15%. The experimental diets were administered in a three-phase feeding program and included a starter (day 1-10), grower (day 11-20) and finisher phase (day [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]. The Aviagen Ross 308 management catalog Aviagen [22] guidelines were integrated to control the lighting, temperature and relative humidity in the experimental environment.…”

“…The estimation of metabolizability of nutrients was performed according to Souza et al and Zhang et al [24,25]: titanium oxide (TiO 2 ) was used as an indigestible marker, where three grams was mixed with each kg of experimental diet (finisher). The total excreta were collected from chickens for seven days with exclusion of any contaminants and then dried for 72 h at 65 • C and kept at −20 • C. The content of TiO 2 in diets and excreta was determined after acid digestion.…”

Effect of adding soluble viscous fibers to diets containing coarse and finely ground insoluble fibers on digesta transit behavior and nutrient digestibility in broiler chickens

“…In chickens, the addition of insoluble DF ( iDF ) has been shown to have positive effects on the development of the gizzard ( Hetland et al, 2003 ; Sadeghi et al, 2020 ), consequently allowing a better grinding and mixing of digesta with digestive enzymes (reviewed by Svihus, 2011 ). Several studies have reported no effect or even improvements in nutrient digestibility and productive performance when iDF were added to the diets of broilers and laying hens, even though the degradation of iDF in poultry is negligible ( Jørgensen et al, 1996 ; Hetland et al, 2003 ; González-Alvarado et al, 2007 ; Jiménez-Moreno et al, 2011 ; Kalmendal et al, 2011 ; Yokhana et al, 2016 ; Tejeda and Kim, 2020 ; Zhang et al, 2023 ). Furthermore, there is evidence that particle size ( PS ) of iDF is partially responsible for the iDF effects on gastrointestinal tract development ( Jiménez-Moreno et al, 2010 ), digesta retention time ( Moore, 1999 ), and nutrient digestibility ( Donadelli et al, 2019 ; Pourazadi et al, 2020 ) in poultry.…”