Effect of Dietary Zinc Methionine Supplementation on Growth Performance, Immune Function and Intestinal Health of Cherry Valley Ducks Challenged With Avian Pathogenic Escherichia coli

Yaqi Chang; Jia Mei; Ting Yang; Zhenyu Zhang; Guangmang Liu; Hua Zhao; Xiaoling Chen; Gang Tian; Jingyi Cai; Bing Wu; Fali Wu; Gang Jia

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2022.849067

Effect of Dietary Zinc Methionine Supplementation on Growth Performance, Immune Function and Intestinal Health of Cherry Valley Ducks Challenged With Avian Pathogenic Escherichia coli

Front Microbiol. 2022 May 3:13:849067. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.849067. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Yaqi Chang¹, Jia Mei¹, Ting Yang^{1

2}, Zhenyu Zhang^{1

3}, Guangmang Liu¹, Hua Zhao¹, Xiaoling Chen¹, Gang Tian¹, Jingyi Cai¹, Bing Wu⁴, Fali Wu¹, Gang Jia¹

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory for Animal Disease-Resistance Nutrition of China, Ministry of Education, Institute of Animal Nutrition, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China.
² Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science, Jiangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanchang, China.
³ Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, Meishan Vocational Technical College, Meishan, China.
⁴ Chelota Group, Guanghan, China.

Abstract

This study was carried out to evaluate the effects of supplemental zinc methionine (Zn-Met) on growth performance, immune function, and intestinal health of meat ducks challenged with avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC). A total of 480 1-day-old Cherry Valley male ducks were randomly assigned to 8 treatments with 10 replicates, each replicate containing 10 ducks. A 4 × 2 factor design was used with four dietary zinc levels (0, 30, 60, 120 mg Zn/kg in the form Zn-Met was added to the corn-soybean basal diet) and challenged with or without APEC at 8-days-old ducks. The trial lasted for 14 days. The results showed that a dietary Zn-Met supplementation significantly increased body weight (BW) of 14 days and BW gain, and decreased mortality during 7-14-days-old ducks (p < 0.05). Furthermore, dietary 30, 60, 120 mg/kg Zn-Met supplementation noticeably increased the thymus index at 2 days post-infection (2 DPI) and 8 DPI (p < 0.05), and 120 mg/kg Zn-Met enhanced the serum IgA at 2 DPI and IgA, IgG, IgM, C3 at 8 DPI (p < 0.05). In addition, dietary 120 mg/kg Zn-Met supplementation dramatically increased villus height and villus height/crypt depth (V/C) of jejunum at 2 DPI and 8 DPI (p < 0.05). The TNF-α and IFN-γ mRNA expression were downregulated after supplemented with 120 mg/kg Zn-Met in jejunum at 8 DPI (p < 0.05). Moreover, dietary 120 mg/kg Zn-Met supplementation stimulated ZO-3, OCLN mRNA expression at 2 DPI and ZO-2 mRNA expression in jejunum at 8 DPI (p < 0.05), and improved the MUC2 concentration in jejunum at 2 DPI and 8 DPI (p < 0.05). At the same time, the cecal Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus counts were increased (p < 0.05), and Escherichia coli counts were decreased (p < 0.05) after supplemented with Zn-Met. In conclusion, inclusion of 120 mg/kg Zn-Met minimizes the adverse effects of APEC challenge on meat ducks by improving growth performance and enhancing immune function and intestinal health.

Keywords: avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC); growth performance; intestinal immune; meat ducks; zinc methionine.