Effects of conditioning time and activated sodium bentonite on pellet quality, performance, intestinal morphology, and nutrients retention in growing broilers fed wheat-soybean meal diets

Effect of Gum Arabic as Natural Prebiotic on Intestinal Ecosystem of Post-Hatched Broiler Chicks

“…5 μm-long sections were cut with a rotary microtome (Leica Biosystems, RM 2255, Germany) and then stained with eosin, hematoxylin, and Alcian blue on slides (Leica, CV5030, Germany). Histometeric parameters of the small intestine such as villus length (VL), width (W), crypt depth (CD), goblet cells (GC), epithelial thickness (ET), and lamina propria thickness (LPT) were measured (five villi per section) using a light microscope (Nikon, Corp, Japan) and image analysis software (AmScope digital camera with attached Ceti England microscope) [34]. In addition, the villus surface area (SA=2π × (W/2) × VL), height of villus length to crypt ratio (VL/CD), and density of goblet cell /100 µm of villus area (GC100) were recorded [35,36].…”