Histology of intestinal villi and epithelial cells in chickens fed low protein or low fat diets

Abstract

To establish the intestinal histological alterations in chickens fed low crude protein (CP) or low crude fat (EE) in long-term isocaloric diets, 60 birds were allotted to three treatments, each with five replicates of four chickens. They were fed the control, low-CP, or low-EE diet from the age of 9 to 16 weeks. The chickens receiving the low-CP diet showed a clear reduction in performance and carcass characteristics like breast and wings. However, these adverse effects did not occur in the chickens fed the low-EE diet. The villus height in the duodenum and ileum were lower (P<0.05) in the low-CP group. The duodenal villus area decreased (P<0.05) in both the low-CP and low-EE groups, whereas the ileum showed a lower value (P<0.05) in only the low-CP group. The cell area of the duodenum and jejunum displayed decreasing values (P<0.05) in the low-CP and low-EE groups. As regards the mitotic numbers, the jejunum and ileum showed a decrease (P<0.05) in the low-CP group. On the villus tip surface in the duodenum of the control and low-EE groups, clear protuberant cells and cell clusters with a great number of epithelial cells were found. These cell clusters degraded to faintly dome-shaped cells in the low-CP group, resulting in a lower level of morphological changes than in the other two groups. The epithelial cells on the jejunal and ileal tip surfaces did not show a specific change in the treatment groups.

Keywords

• Histological examinations
• Intestinal villi
• Epithelial cells
• Poultry nutrition
• Chickens