Immune response, expression of nutrient transporter genes and gut health status of broiler chicken fed diet supplemented with prebiotic and organic acid

An experiment was conducted to compare the effectiveness of combination of mannan oligosaccharide (MOS) and butyric acid (BA) with antibiotic growth promoter (AGP) in terms of immunity, intestinal microflora and nutrient transporter genes expression in broiler chickens. 240 one-day old broiler chicks were randomly divided in to six groups having five replicates of 8 chicks in each. A basal cornsoybean meal diet were formulated and served as a control (T₁). Five experimental diets T₂, T₃, T₄, T₅ and T₆ were formulated to contain an additional Bacitracin Methylene Di-salicylate (BMD) @ 20 mg/kg, 0.1 and 0.2% MOS, MOS (0.1%) with BA (0.3%) and MOS (0.2%) with BA (0.3%), respectively. Antibody titers (humoral immunity) and in-vivo cell mediated immune responses were significantly (P<0.05) higher after feeding of MOS @ 0.1 or 0.2% with BA @ 0.3% (T₅ or T₆) supplemented diet. Significant reduction (P<0.05) was observed in Coliforms and increased in Lactobacillus counts in cecal digesta (28 and 42 d) and excreta (42 d), whereas, total plate counts (TPC) at 42 d were comparable among the control and dietary treated groups. Sodium Glucose transporter-1 (SGLT1), peptide transporter-1 (PePT1) and Glucose Transporters-5 (GLUT5) gene expressions in jejunum were found to be significantly (P<0.05) upregulated in MOS (0.2%) with BA (0.3%) treated group at 7d post hatch. From the results, it could be concluded that MOS@ 0.1% with BA @0.3% was beneficial for immune response, gut health and expression of nutrient transporter genes in broiler chickens.