Dietary 25-hydroxyvitamin D improves intestinal health and microbiota of laying hens under high stocking density

Jianping Wang; Chunhua Zhang; Tao Zhang; Lei Yan; Lingyun Qiu; Huadong Yin; Xuemei Ding; Shiping Bai; Qiufeng Zeng; Xiangbing Mao; Keying Zhang; Caimei Wu; Yue Xuan; Zhiguo Shan

doi:10.1016/j.psj.2021.101132

Dietary 25-hydroxyvitamin D improves intestinal health and microbiota of laying hens under high stocking density

Poult Sci. 2021 Jul;100(7):101132. doi: 10.1016/j.psj.2021.101132. Epub 2021 Mar 14.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Animal Nutrition Institute, Key Laboratory of Animal Disease-Resistance Nutrition, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, China.
² College of Agriculture and Forestry, Pu'er University, Pu'er City, 665000, P.R. China.
³ DSM Nutrition Product, DSM Vitamin (Shanghai) Ltd. Shanghai, China.
⁴ Animal Nutrition Institute, Key Laboratory of Animal Disease-Resistance Nutrition, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, China; College of Agriculture and Forestry, Pu'er University, Pu'er City, 665000, P.R. China. Electronic address: puercha517@163.com.

Abstract

The high stocking density is a major stress factor that adversely affects the health and performance of poultry. Therefore, the object of this study was conducted to explore whether dietary 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OH-D₃) could improve gut health of laying hens reared under high stocking density. A 2 × 2 factorial design was used in this 16-week study, in which 800 45-week-old Lohmann laying hens were allocated into two levels of dietary 25-OH-D₃ levels (0 and 69 µg/kg) and two rates of stocking densities [506 (low density, LD) and 338 (high density, HD) cm²/hen]. Compared with the layers with LD, the layers with HD had lower crypt depth in duodenum (P_(Density) < 0.05), lower short chain fatty acid (propionic and butyric acid) contents in cecum (P_(Density) < 0.05), and lower mRNA expression of intestinal barrier associated protein (claudin-1, mucin-1 and mucin-2). Exposed layer to HD also led to lower intestinal antioxidative capacity [superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), and higher malondialdehyde (MDA) content] in small intestine (P_(Density) < 0.05), lower bacterial abundance of Bacteroidetes (phylum), Spirochaetes (phylum) and Bacteroides (genus; P_(Density) < 0.05), higher bacterial enrichment of Lactobacillaceae (genus) and Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio (P_(Density) < 0.05) in cecum. Dietary 25-OH-D₃ increased the villus height in duodenum and jejunum (P_(25-OH-D3) < 0.05), decreased Chao 1 and ACE indexes in cecum (P_(25-OH-D3) < 0.05), and it also up-regulated the mRNA expression of claudin-1, mucin-1 and mucin-2 (P_(25-OH-D3) < 0.05). Layers treated with 25-OH-D₃ led to an enhanced antioxidative enzyme activity of CAT (P_(25-OH-D3) < 0.05). Additionally, the effect of 25-OH-D₃ reversed the effect of HD on T-AOC and MDA content (P_{(Interaction)} < 0.05). In HD layers, 25-OH-D₃ administration decreased the enrichment of Bacteroidetes (phylum), increased Firmicutes (phylum), and Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio (P_{(Interaction)} < 0.05). These results suggest that supplementing 25-OH-D₃ in diets may elevate gut health through the improvement of intestinal barrier function, antioxidant capacity and cecal microbiota composition in laying hens with high stocking density.

Keywords: 25-hydroxycholecalciferol; antioxidative capacity; intestinal barrier; microbiota; stocking density.

MeSH terms

Animal Feed / analysis
Animals
Chickens*
Diet
Dietary Supplements / analysis
Female
Microbiota*
Vitamin D / analogs & derivatives

Substances

Vitamin D
25-hydroxyvitamin D