Abstract
Simple SummaryThe value of yeast culture (YC) as alternative feed additives in poultry farming has been proven. YC is a nutrient-rich and complex micro-ecological fermentation product containing various metabolites. However, the major or specific effective components of YC and their importance in poultry farming are unknown. Herein, we screened the “effective ingredients” of YCs obtained from different fermentation times based on metabolomics and animal feeding experiments. Glycine, fructose, inositol, galactose, and sucrose were identified as potential effective metabolites in YCs. These findings provide an important basis for objective, accurate, and quick evaluation of the quality of YC products, as well as a scientific understanding of their functions.This study was aimed at determining the effective ingredients of yeast culture (YC) for animal breeding. First, the contents of YCs obtained from various fermentation times were detected using gas-chromatography. A total of 85 compounds were identified. Next, 336 Arbor Acres (AA) broilers were randomly divided into seven experimental groups and fed a basal diet, diets supplemented with YCs obtained at various fermentation times, or SZ1 (a commercial YC product). A significant increase in body weight gain (BWG) and a significant decrease in feed conversion ratio (FCR) of AA broiler chicks were observed with YC supplementation. Additionally, most of blood and immunological indices were improved with YC supplementation. According to the production performance and the results of multivariate analysis, glycine, fructose, inositol, galactose, and sucrose were found as the potential effective compounds of YC and were involved in metabolic pathways including glycine, serine, and threonine metabolism. Supplementation with diets based on combinations of effective compounds improved weight gain, feed efficiency, serum immunoglobulin A, and immunoglobulin G, but decreased blood urea concentration. These findings suggest YCs as effective and harmless feed additives with improved nutritional properties for broiler chicks.
Highlights
The growing requirements for safe and good quality poultry products have led to an increased interest in growth-promoting feed additives for animal nutrition [1,2,3]
Using KEGG pathway analysis (Figure 4), we found that the differentially expressed metabolites screened between YC24 and YC60 were enriched in four significant pathways: glycine, serine, and threonine metabolism; inositol phosphate metabolism; galactose metabolism; and starch and sucrose metabolism (p < 0.05, impact value > 0.10)
YC24 and YC60 were chosen for differential analysis and the results showed that five differentially expressed metabolites could be identified between the YC24 and YC60 groups, namely sucrose, inositol, glycine, fructose, and galactose
Summary
The growing requirements for safe and good quality poultry products have led to an increased interest in growth-promoting feed additives for animal nutrition [1,2,3]. Previous studies indicated that supplementation with yeast culture (YC) enhances animal nutrition and health, and that dietary supplementation of YC (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) could increase the body weight and feed efficiency, and promote the immune system in animals, while decreasing the percentage of abdominal fat in broilers [5,6]. YC is a unique micro-ecological product that contains a combination of yeast biomass and fermentation metabolites produced during the fermentation processes. While it is mainly composed of yeast extracellular metabolites such as peptides, alcohols, esters, and organic acids [7], the composition of the medium changes after fermentation and a number of residual viable yeast cells persist. Owing to the increasing interest in using YC products in animal feeds, the development of analytical approaches to estimate YC and its effective components is much needed to ensure the quality of animal products
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