Abstract
This study was to investigate the effects of UPro as a new nutritive fortifier on high-quality egg production from the perspective of egg properties, intestinal histomorphology, and oviduct function of laying hens. Four hundred thirty-two Hy-Line Brown laying hens aged 56 weeks were allocated to four groups. Layers were given a basal diet or supplemented with different levels of small peptides (0.2, 0.4, and 0.8%) to replace soybean meal. After 1-week adaptation period, the feeding trial was conducted for 12 weeks. The results showed that UPro addition significantly decreased (P < 0.05) the hardness, stickiness, and chewiness of albumen of layers on weeks 12. A linear elevation (P < 0.05) in the albumen height, Haugh unit (HU), and crude protein content of albumen of layers were noted on week 12 along with dietary UPro addition increasing, and the villus height (VH) and villus height-to-crypt depth radio (VCR) of jejunum also linearly increasing (P < 0.05). In addition, there were linear elevations (P < 0.05) in the relative mRNA expression of Sec23 homolog A (Sec23A) and protein-O-mannosyltransferase1 (POMT1) in layers as dietary UPro addition increased. In conclusion, dietary UPro addition could improve intestinal health, increase the absorption of nutrients, and improve egg quality of laying hens. The possible mechanism underlying UPro improving the quality and processing characteristics of albumen is up-regulating Sec23A and POMT1 expression of magnum. These findings will promote the application of UPro as a new nutritional additive in the production of high-quality eggs.
Highlights
Eggs are an important source of animal protein that are rich in high-quality protein and essential unsaturated fatty acids, and are easy to obtain for humans [1]
For the purpose of improving albumen quality, the current study aimed to explore the effects of dietary UPro supplementation on the performance, egg quality, and protein gel properties in laying hens and clarify its possible mechanism through oviduct function
Albumen height and Haugh unit (HU) were linearly affected by UPro supplementation in diets at week 8 (P < 0.05)
Summary
Eggs are an important source of animal protein that are rich in high-quality protein and essential unsaturated fatty acids, and are easy to obtain for humans [1]. UPro, a functional and nutritional additive synthesized from corn, is rich in bioactive substances in the form of small peptides, free amino acids, and a small amount of lactic acid. In addition to free amino acids, the final products of proteins in the digestive tract had some small peptides, which demonstrated that short peptides could be absorbed in the form of dipeptides and tripeptides and enter the blood circulation [6,7,8]. The application of small peptides as feed additives to diets has an essential role in promoting the production performance of animals, such as improving the production performance of dairy cows, piglets, and broilers [13,14,15], which can ameliorate the intestinal flora distribution of suckling pigs [16]. It could be hypothesized that UPro enriched with small peptides probably have good application prospects to strengthen protein nutrition in livestock and poultry production
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