Gut complex carbohydrates and intestinal microflora in broiler chickens fed with oregano (Origanum vulgare L.) aqueous extract and vitamin E

Abstract

One hundred and seventy one-day-old female broiler chicks were randomly divided into three groups fed with different dietary treatments: basal control diet (C); C supplemented (2 g/kg) with an oregano aqueous extract (O); C supplemented (150 mg/kg) with vitamin E (E). Growth performance was evaluated at 21 (T1) and 42 days (T2). On the same days, morphological, histochemical and microbiological analyses were performed. The O group showed the highest (p < 0.01) body weight at T1, while no differences were observed at T2. Light microscopic observation and conventional histochemistry showed no differences with regard to the two sampling times, whereas significant differences emerged among the treatments. The O treatment generally enhanced goblet cell reactivity more than both the C and E treatments. Coliform count was lower in the ileum tract of the O group at both T1 and T2 (p < 0.05) and increased with age in all groups. Escherichia coli showed the lowest values in the caecum of the O group (p < 0.001) at both sampling times. Enterococci, lactobacilli and staphylococci populations showed no differences among the different experimental groups in the caecum. In the ileum, the O group did not exhibit the sharp decline (p < 0.001) in the lactic acid bacteria population observed in the other two experimental groups. In conclusion, oregano aqueous extract supplementation seemed to elicit the best response among treatments, enabling better growth performance, enhancing both the quantity and quality of glycoconjugates involved in indirect defence actions and significantly reducing both the coliform and E. coli counts.

Oregano Feed Supplementation Affects Glycoconjugates Production in Swine Gut

“…In particular, as present study concerns, during the finisher stage (3 months; from 120 to 180 kg live weight) the two experimental group were fed: (1) degermed corn-barley-soybean-based diet (CTR group); (2) CTR diet supplemented (2 g/kg) with OAE (EXP group). The supplementation level of OAE was chosen based on our previous data in swine [1,2] and poultry [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19], to keep the feed cost within acceptable limits and without modifying the meat quality traits and the consumer perceptions of meat quality. Information concerning the OAE extraction and analysis methods adopted were previously described [33] and are summarized in the Supplementary Materials.…”

“…Concerning the histochemical data, numerical units of reactivity, sorted in a scale ranging from 0 (negative) to 3 (strong), were converted into ranks [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. Wilcoxon Mann-Whitney tests were performed: (1) for each histochemical treatment, under the null hypothesis that the distributions of reactivity ranks of the two dietary groups, differ by a location shift of zero; (2) for each diet group, under the null hypothesis that the distributions of reactivity ranks between the serial treatments AB pH 2.5, Sial-AB, and KOH-Sial-AB differ by a location shift of zero.…”

“…A recent study aimed at evaluating the effects of oregano aqueous extract (OAE) supplementation in poultry nutrition found encouraging results regarding the secretion of glycoconjugates in the gut which increases tissue hydration and protects the intestinal mucosa from pathogenic bacteria, viruses, and parasites [19]. In fact, glycosaminoglycan-like materials form a mucous layer negatively charged on the free epithelium surface that preserve the hydration degree of mucous membrane and, in the first intestinal tract, protect it from the acidity of gastric material [20][21][22].…”

Effects of orange essential oil on intestinal microflora in mice

“…Antioxidant parameters were more effective than performance parameters and could be used as natural antioxidant products. Scocco et al discovered that the use of oregano aqueous extract produced good effects on growth performance, gut secretion of glycoconjugates, and microbiota, thereby contributing to a deeper knowledge of the role of this plant extract in poultry nutrition. Pathak et al showed that a combination of essential oil and organic acids could significantly reduce the Clostridium count in the small intestine and cecum, and enhanced the villus height and antibody titer against Newcastle disease vaccine.…”

Effects of Maternal and Progeny Dietary Vitamin E on Growth Performance and Antioxidant Status of Progeny Chicks before and after Egg Storage

“…Consistent with the present study, Hossain et al [ 7 ] and Siegel et al [ 28 ] found that the growth performance of offspring was not influenced by the supplementation of maternal dietary VE. Meanwhile, broiler dietary VE supplementation also showed no significant difference on the growth performance of broilers [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ]. The result of the growth performance in trial 1 suggested that the addition of 100 mg/kg VE in broiler breeder diet is sufficient for the normal growth of offspring even without any addition of VE in progeny diet.…”