Dietary supplementation of coated sodium butyrate improves growth performance of laying ducks by regulating intestinal health and immunological performance

Tao Zeng; Hanxue Sun; Manman Huang; Rongbing Guo; Tiantian Gu; Yongqing Cao; Chengfeng Li; Yong Tian; Li Chen; Guoqin Li; Lizhi Lu

doi:10.3389/fimmu.2023.1142915

Dietary supplementation of coated sodium butyrate improves growth performance of laying ducks by regulating intestinal health and immunological performance

Front Immunol. 2023 Mar 9:14:1142915. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1142915. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Tao Zeng¹, Hanxue Sun¹, Manman Huang¹, Rongbing Guo², Tiantian Gu¹, Yongqing Cao¹, Chengfeng Li³, Yong Tian¹, Li Chen¹, Guoqin Li¹, Lizhi Lu¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory for Managing Biotic and Chemical Threats to the Quality and Safety of Agro-Products, Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, China.
² College of Animal Science, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, China.
³ Hubei Shendan Health Food Co., Ltd., Xiaogan, China.

Abstract

Introduction: This study was conducted to assess the effects of dietary supplementation of coated sodium butyrate (CSB) on the growth performance, serum antioxidant, immune performance, and intestinal microbiota of laying ducks.

Methods: A total of 120 48-week-old laying ducks were randomly divided into 2 treatment groups: the control group (group C fed a basal diet) and the CSB-treated group (group CSB fed the basal diet + 250 g/t of CSB). Each treatment consisted of 6 replicates, with 10 ducks per replicate, and the trial was conducted for 60 days.

Results: Compared with the group C, the group CSB showed a significant increase in the laying rate (p<0.05) of the 53-56 week-old ducks. Additionally, the serum total antioxidant capacity, superoxide dismutase activity and immunoglobulin G level were significantly higher (p<0.05), while the serum malondialdehyde content and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-a level were significantly lower (p<0.05) in the serum of the group CSB compared to the group C. Moreover, the expression of IL-1b and TNF-a in the spleen of the group CSB was significantly lower (p<0.05) compared to that of the group C. In addition, compared with the group C, the expression of Occludin in the ileum and the villus height in the jejunum were significantly higher in the group CSB (p<0.05). Furthermore, Chao1, Shannon, and Pielou-e indices were higher in the group CSB compared to the group C (p<0.05). The abundance of Bacteroidetes in the group CSB was lower than that in the group C (p<0.05), while the abundances of Firmicutes and Actinobacteria were higher in the group CSB compared to the group C (p<0.05).

Conclusions: Our results suggest that the dietary supplementation of CSB can alleviate egg-laying stress in laying ducks by enhancing immunity and maintaining the intestinal health of the ducks.

Keywords: coated sodium butyrate (CSB); growth performance; immunological performance; intestinal health; laying duck.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Antioxidants* / pharmacology
Butyric Acid / pharmacology
Dietary Supplements*
Ducks
Intestines

Substances

Antioxidants
Butyric Acid

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. LZ23C170001, earmarked fund for China Agriculture Research System (CARS-42) and Zhejiang Province Agricultural New Breed Breeding Major Science and Technology Special Project (2021C02068).