Effects of lysophospholipid on growth performance, carcass yield, intestinal development, and bone quality in broilers.

Abstract

A study was conducted to evaluate the effects of supplementing different levels of lysophospholipid (LPL) to normal or reduced energy diets on growth performance, carcass yield, intestinal morphology, and skeletal development in broilers. A total of 960 one-day-old Cobb 500 male birds were allocated using a 2 × 4 factorial arrangement with 2 energy levels (NE: normal and RE: 100kcal/kg metabolizable energy reduction) and 4 LPL supplement levels (0, 0.025, 0.050, and 0.075%). Three diet phases were fed throughout the trial: starter (days 0 to 7), grower (days 8 to 21), and finisher (days 22 to 42) phases. Body weight (BW), feed intake (FI), and feed conversion ratio were calculated at the end of each phase. At day 7 and 21, duodenum and jejunum samples were collected for intestinal morphology and claudin-3 expression analyses, and tibia were sampled for bone quality analyses. At day 42, 4 birds per replicate were selected to measure carcass yield. The results showed low metabolizable energy diets impaired bird's growth performance, intestine development, and bone quality. The 0.075% LPL supplement in NE improved BW, BW gain, and FI in the finisher and overall period compared with no LPL supplement in NE (P < 0.05). In RE, the 0.025% LPL supplement significantly improved growth performance compared to the other treatments in RE (P < 0.05). The interactions on processing parameters were detected with LPL supplement in NE diets; 0.025, 0.05, and 0.075% LPL supplements significantly increased pectoral major percentages compared to the one without LPL supplement in NE (P < 0.05). The 0.075% LPL supplement increased dressing percentage (cold carcass weight/live BW) compared with the others (P < 0.05). The intestine morphology results showed LPL had positive effects on intestine development mainly during the early age (day 7) and claudin-3 expression at both day 7 and 21. Furthermore, LPL supplement significantly increased the total Ca and P deposition and positively affected the bone structure development. In summary, dietary LPL supplementation promoted growth performance, carcass yield, intestinal development, intestinal health, and bone quality.