Effect of feeding a Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation-derived postbiotics on growth performance and intestinal health in the crossbred broiler chickens under a low biosecurity production system

Abstract

Open farming systems with low biosecurity conditions are very common in developing countries. In the context that many countries in the world have issued regulations prohibiting the use of antibiotics for disease prevention, finding effective alternatives becomes more important, especially for farms with low biosecurity. This study aimed to explore the effects of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation-derived postbiotics (SCFP) on growth performance and intestinal health of crossbred broiler chickens raised in a low bio-security production system. One hundred ninety-two 1-day-old chickens were assigned to 2 treatments. Dietary treatments were: 1) a standard basal diet and 2) a standard basal diet containing SCFP (1.25 kg/MT of Diamond V XPC™). The broilers were individually weighed every week. Feed intake was measured daily per pen. At 84 days old, the small intestine was collected for intestinal morphology analyses by hematoxylin and eosin staining. Gut integrity was evaluated by measuring the expression of tight junction genes using qRT-PCR. Results showed that supplementation of SCFP did not affect the average daily gain, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio (P > 0.05). Similarly, supplementation of SCFP did not change the villus height and crypt depth of intestinal tissues (P > 0.05). Besides, SCFP did not affect the expressions of Claudins, Occludin, ZO1, and JAM but down-regulated E-cadherin expression. Overall, supplementation of SCFP did not affect chicken performance as well as the morphology and tight junction gene expression of intestinal tissues of chickens raised in a low bio-security production system.