The Effects of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae and Citric Acid on Productive Performance, Egg Quality Parameters, Small Intestinal Morphology, and Immune-Related Gene Expression in Laying Japanese Quails

Abstract

This experiment evaluated the effects of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae) and citric acid on production performance, egg quality, intestine histomorphology, and avian β-defensin 1 and 2 (AvBD 1 and 2) gene expressions in laying Japanese quails. A total of 400 48-day-old quails were randomly assigned to a 2×2×2 factorial arrangement of treatments with 5 replicates (each containing 10 quails) for 7 weeks. Variable factors consisted of S. cerevisiae (0 and 100 mg/kg diet), citric acid (0 and 5 g/kg diet), and Virginiamycin (0 and 50 mg/kg diet). At the completion of the trial, one bird per replicate was randomly killed, and jejunal tissue samples were removed to evaluate intestinal morphometric characteristics. Samples were taken from the midpoint of the jejunum to measure the gene expression of AvBD 1 and 2. Dietary inclusion of both S. cerevisiae and citric acid resulted in increased egg weight, egg mass, reduced feed intake, and improved FCR (p<0.05). The addition of S. cerevisiae to diets containing citric acid reduced feed intake, increased egg weight, and improved FCR (p<0.05). Shell weight and shell thickness were increased in birds fed each of S. cerevisiae and citric acid supplements (p<0.05). Dietary S. cerevisiae and citric acid similarly increased intestinal villus height, width, surface area, and the villus height to crypt depth ratio (p<0.0001). Results showed that AvBD 1 and 2 genes expression were up-regulated on quails fed S. cerevisiaesupplemented diets (p<0.0001). In conclusion, these results suggest that supplementation of S. cerevisiae and citric acid as functional feed additives either alone or in combination could be a potential alternative to antibiotics in the diet of Japanese laying quails.

Growth promoting effect of prebiotic, probiotic ,short chain fatty acid and essential oil on performance of broiler chicks under Egyptian summer conditions

“…Organic acids can freely pass past the bacteria's semi-permeable membrane and into the cytoplasm of the cell in their undissociated form (Ebeid and Al-Homidan, 2022); Organic acids act in such a way that, by lowering the pH of the gastrointestinal tract, they accelerate the conversion of pepsinogen to pepsin and increase the rate of absorption of proteins and minerals. In this regard, it has been reported that citric acid can prevent the formation of the calcium phytate complex, making phytate phosphorus available (Mirakzehi et al, 2022).…”