Effect of Lactobacillus reuteri usage on the intestinal morphology of broiler chicks newly hatched

• Grant number: 13/21763-2
• Support type: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): January 10, 2014
• Effective date (End): April 09, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Animal Nutrition and Feeding
• Principal researcher: Valquíria Cação Cruz-Polycarpo
• Grantee: Tatiane Souza dos Santos
• Supervisor abroad: Ramon Diniz Malheiros
• Home Institution: Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus Experimental de Dracena. Dracena , SP, Brazil
• Research place: North Carolina State University (NC State), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 13/08637-8 - Use of diet post-hatching on the first day of life on performance, enzymatic activity and intestinal morphometry broiler chickens, BP.IC

Abstract

The immediate provision of a nutritional supplement for chicks, in the first hours of life, promotes the formation of a healthy and balanced microbiota. The maintenance of intestinal health is essential in optimizing gene expression of the birds, allowing proper absorption of nutrients by the body, which provides better performance. System intensive production of broiler chickens does not ensure that the environment is free of pathogens even with every high technological standard. Thus, the option used by producers is the provision of zootechnical additives. Among them are antibiotics, probiotics and prebiotics. This study aims to evaluate the effect of Lactobacillus reuteri in providing intestinal morphology (villus height and width, and crypt depth) of the jejunum and ileum. The treatments are: T1: Positive Control - Hydrogel provided transportation + Lactobacillus reuteri, T2: Negative control - Hydrogel provided transportation. For this, 100 broiler chicks will be used, housed in 10 boxes in a completely randomized design with five replications. From this, data will be collected for intestinal morphometry at 3, 7 and 14 days of life. Results will be submitted to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the averages were compared by Tukey test (5%), using the statistical program JMP version 10.0. (AU)