Growth Performance and Histological Intestinal Alterations of Sanuki Cochin Chickens Fed Diets Diluted with Untreated Whole-Grain Paddy Rice

Abstract

The effects of dietary untreated whole-grain paddy rice (WPR) on performance and histological intestinal alterations were investigated in Sanuki Cochin male chicks. At 2 weeks of age, chicks showing similar body weights were randomly divided into 3 groups of 10 birds each. The control group was fed with a basal diet (starter diet: CP 21%, ME 3000 kcal/kg; grower diet: CP 18%, ME 2850 kcal/kg; finisher diet: CP 15%, ME 2800 kcal/kg) and the other groups were fed with the basal diet diluted with WPR at 20% (starter diet: CP 17.8%, ME 2958 kcal/kg; grower diet: CP 15.4%, ME 2838 kcal/kg; finisher diet: CP 13%, ME 2798 kcal/kg) and 40% (starter diet: CP 14.6%, ME 2916 kcal/kg; grower diet: CP 12.8%, ME 2826 kcal/kg; finisher diet: CP 11%, ME 2796 kcal/kg). They were housed in individual cages under natural room temperature (around 5°C) with a daily lighting regimen of 16 h of light and 8 h of dark. The growth performance, relative length of the intestines and relative weight of the visceral organs to 100 g body weight did not differ except that the weight of the gizzard increased significantly (p<0.05) in the WPR groups. Most parameters of villus height, villus area, cell area and cell mitosis numbers of the WPR groups did not show a significant decrease. In scanning electron microscopic results, the morphology of the villus apical surface in the WPR groups did not show damage due to WPR and had similar cells to the control (protuberated cells). These results demonstrate that WPR can be diluted by up to 40% as a feed ingredient in chicken basal diets.

Keywords

• growth performance
• intestinal histological alterations
• sanuki cochin
• whole paddy feed rice