Japanese quail performance, intestinal microflora, and molecular responses to screened wheat and multienzyme diet

Authors: ALI ASGHAR SAKI, FATEMEH SAHEBI ALA, POUYA ZAMANI, DARIUSH ALIPOUR, MASOUMEH ABBASINEZHAD

Abstract: The present paper studied the effect of screened wheat (SW) levels and a multienzyme diet on Japanese quail performance, intestinal performance, and microbial population. A total of 480 unsexed 10-day-old quail chicks were assigned to a multienzyme diet (0 or 0.5 g/kg) and SW (0%, 5%, 10%, or 15%) in a 2 x 4 factorial arrangement of treatments with 4 replications and 15 quails in each in a completely randomized design. No differences were observed in performance between diets at 10 to 36 days of age. Increases in dietary SW levels decreased villus height, villus width, villus surface, and height:crypt depth ratio and increased crypt depth (linear; P < 0.01). Increasing SW levels in diets decreased the number of lactobacilli of the cecum and ileum (linear; P < 0.01), while it increased the number of Enterobacteriaceae in the cecum and ileum (quadratic; P < 0.01). Increasing SW level in diets decreased the population of lactobacilli, increased Enterobacteriaceae, and reduced intestinal morphology growth. Protein synthesis and DNA contents of the jejunal mucosa were decreased linearly with increasing levels of SW in diets (P < 0.05). Finally, it was concluded that inclusion of SW up to 15% had no adverse effect on performance, molecular, and intestinal morphological parameters of Japanese quail.

Keywords: Intestine, Japanese quail, performance, multienzyme, screened wheat

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