Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/26761
Title: Dietary L-glutamine supplementation improves growth performance, gut morphology, and serum biochemical indices of broiler chickens during necrotic enteritis challenge
Contributor(s): Xue, G D  (author); Barekatain, R (author); Wu, S B  (author)orcid ; Choct, M  (author)orcid ; Swick, R A  (author)orcid 
Publication Date: 2018-04
Early Online Version: 2018-03-15
Open Access: Yes
DOI: 10.3382/ps/pex444Open Access Link
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/26761
Abstract: Necrotic enteritis (NE) causes significant economic losses in the broiler chicken industry, especially in birds raised without in-feed antibiotics. L–glutamine (Gln) is an amino acid that may compensate for metabolic losses from infection and improve the intestinal development. This study investigated the effects of dietary Gln (10 g/kg) supplementation on growth performance, intestinal lesions, jejunum morphology, and serum biochemical indices of broiler chickens during NE challenge. The study employed a factorial arrangement of treatments with factors: NE challenge, no or yes; dietary Gln inclusion, 0 g/kg in starter (S), d 0 to 10, grower (G) d 10 to 24, and finisher (F) d 24 to 35; 10 g/kg in S, G, F, or 10 g/kg in S, G only. Each treatment was replicated in 6 floor pens with 17 birds per pen as the experimental unit for performance and 2 birds for other measurements. Challenge significantly reduced bird performance, increased incidence of intestinal lesions, and affected intestinal development and serum biochemical indices. Regardless of challenge, Gln supplementation increased gain ( < 0.05), feed intake ( < 0.05), and decreased FCR ( < 0.05) on d 24. On d 35, Gln improved gain ( < 0.05) and FCR ( < 0.001) whereas withdrawing Gln from finisher tended to diminish the beneficial effect on weight gain but not FCR. Dietary Gln reduced lesion scores in the jejunum ( < 0.01) and ileum ( < 0.01) in challenged birds. On d 16, Gln increased villus height to crypt depth ratio in unchallenged birds ( < 0.05) and reduced crypt depth of challenged birds on d 24 ( < 0.05). Regardless of challenge, supplementation with Gln reduced crypt depth on d 16 ( < 0.05), and increased villus height ( < 0.01) and the villus height to crypt depth ratio ( < 0.001) on d 24. Dietary Gln lowered serum uric acid level regardless of challenge ( < 0.05). The current study indicates that dietary Gln alleviates adverse effects of NE and may be useful in antibiotic-free diets.
Publication Type: Journal Article
Source of Publication: Poultry Science, 97(4), p. 1334-1341
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Place of Publication: United States of America
ISSN: 1525-3171
0032-5791
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: 070204 Animal Nutrition
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: 300303 Animal nutrition
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: 839999 Animal Production and Animal Primary Products not elsewhere classified
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: 109999 Other animal production and animal primary products not elsewhere classified
Peer Reviewed: Yes
HERDC Category Description: C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal
Appears in Collections:Journal Article
School of Environmental and Rural Science

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