This study investigated the effects of taurine on bowel inflammation resulting from heat stress in broilers, with the intent of providing insight into potential improvement of the condition of broilers. A total of 300 healthy 1 day AA broilers were selected, fed normally until day 7, and allocated randomly to 5 treatment groups, namely, the control group(C), the heat stress group(HS), the low Tau (LTau) group, the middle Tau (MTau) group and the high Tau (HTau) group, which represent low, medium and high concentrations of taurine respectively. In the study, various concentrations of taurine were added to the drinking water. The Heat Stress model was produced by maintaining Broilers in a room at 34 °C.Heat stress persisted for 6 h, 12 h, 7 days, and 14 days. The results showed that the expression levels of TNF-α, IFN-γ, and IL-1β of the HTau group were significantly lower than that of the HS group at all time points examined (6 h, 12 h, 7 days, and 14 days) (P < 0.05). Compared with the HS group subjected to 6 h, 12 h and 14 days of heat stress, the MTau group exhibited significantly lower degrees of TNF-α and IL-1β expression. Moreover, the expression of IFN-γ was higher in the HS group after 6 h, 12 h and 7 days of heat stress than that of the MTau group subjected to similar times of heat stress (P < 0.05).There were no significant difference among the groups at other periods of heat stress (P > 0.05).
Keywords: Bowel inflammation; Broilers; Heat stress; Taurine.