Effects of corn particle size and physical form of the diet on the gastrointestinal structures of broiler chickens

Abstract

The objective of this experiment was to investigate the effects of different particle sizes, expressed as Geometric Mean Diameter (GMD) of corn (0.336mm, 0.585mm, 0.856mm and 1.12mm) of mash and pelleted broiler chicken diets on the weight of the gizzard, duodenum and jejunum+ileum; on the pH of the gizzard and small intestine and on the characteristics of the duodenal mucous layer (number and height of villi and crypt depth) in 42-day-old broilers. The physical form and the particle size of the diet had no significant effect on gizzard and intestine pH (p > 0.05). A greater gizzard weight was seen in the birds receiving pelleted diet and particle size of 0.336mm (p ≤ 0.008). However, for the particle sizes of 0.856 and 1.12 mm, a greater weight was found in birds that received mash diet (p ≤ 0.039 and p ≤ 0.006, respectively). Also, gizzard weight was greater with increasing corn GMD independent of the physical form of the diet. In the mash diet, the increase in particle size promoted a quadratic response in the weight of duodenum and jejunum + ileum. The pelleted diet promoted a greater number of villi per transverse duodenum cut (p ≤ 0.007) and greater crypt depth (p < 0.05). As the particle size increased, there was a linear increase of villus height and crypt depth in the duodenum, irrespective of the physical form of the diet.

Effects of sorghum on broilers gastrointestinal tract

“…Those authors did not observe any influence of feed physical form on cecum weight. Although Dahlke et al (2003) and Nir et al (1995) demonstrated that dietary particle size affects intestinal weight and size, Garcia et al (2005), did not observe any effect of the substitution of corn by sorghum on intestinal relative weight, which is consistent with the findings of the present study.…”

Değişik Boy ve Formda Diet İle Beslenen Broiler Tavuklarda Büyüme ve Sekum Bakteri Popülasyonu

“…Thus, the pH of the duodenum in broilers fed mash, graded and poor quality pellet diets is lower compared with those fed pelleted diets as this result is in agreement with the finding of Engberg et al [12] . Our finding is in contrast to the report of Dahlke et al [13] who concluded that proventriculus pH and intestinal pH were not affected by different particle sizes.…”

Relationship between feed characteristics and histomorphometry of small intestines of growing pigs

“…Conversely, a diet low in bulk density has coarse feed particles. Feed with larger particle size has a lower rate of passage through the gastrointestinal tract (Warner, 1981), which results in greater contact between the food and the intestinal mucosa, thereby increasing villus height (Dahlke et al, 2003). This results in greater absorption of available nutrients from the digesta.…”