Effect of Oral Supplementation of Putrescine and L-glutamine on the Histomorphology of Small Intestine and Growth Performance in Broiler Chickens

Abstract

A work was conducted to study the effect of putrescine and L-glutamine supplementation on histomorphology of small intestine in broiler chickens. Five groups of ten chicks each in three replicates reared up to 42 days were used for this study. Putrescine and L-glutamine were orally supplemented at 0% level as control (T1), putrescine 0.05% (T2), putrescine 0.1% (T3), L-glutamine 0.5% (T4) and L-glutamine 1% (T5) from 0 day to 7 days after hatch. At 2nd and 3rd week of age, 3 birds from each groupwere slaughtered and tissue samples from small intestine (duodenum, jejunum and ileum) were collected for histomorphological studies. Statistically significant (p<0.01) increase in duodenal and jejunal villi length, width,crypt length and ileal villi length and width were observed in L-glutamine fed groups than putrescine and control groups. There was no significant difference in duodenal crypt length/width, jejunal crypt width and ileal crypt length/width. It can be inferred that L-glutamine promoted the intestinal villi development during early posthatch life, thus increasing the nutrients absorption and growth performance as body weight gain in broiler chickens.