Effects of Alhagi Honey Polysaccharides as Feed Supplement on Intestine Function and Microbiome, Immune Function, and Growth Performance in Chicken

Abstract

Hy-Line Brown chickens’ health is closely related to poultry productivity and it is mainly maintained by the immune system, healthy intestinal function, and microflora of chicken. Polysaccharides are biological macromolecules with a variety of activities that can be used as a potential prebiotic to improve poultry health. In this experiment, the function of Alhagi honey polysaccharides (AH) as an immunomodulator on the chicken was investigated. All chicken (120) were randomly distributed to four groups (five replicas/group, six hens/replica). A total of 0.5 mL water was taken orally by the chicken in control group. AH (0.5 mL) in different concentrations (three dosages, 0.3 g/kg, 0.6 g/k, and 1.2 g/kg) were used for the AH-0.3 g/kg, AH-0.6 g/k, and AH-1.2 g/kg group, respectively. The results showed that the growth performance of the chickens and the index of immune organs (the weight of immune organs/the body weight) were enhanced significantly after being AH-treated (p p p + and CD8+ T cells in the ileum, spleen, and serum were obviously upscaled (p p < 0.05). In conclusion, we found that AH-1.2g/kg was the best dosage to improve the chicken’s health, and these data demonstrated that AH could be used as a potential tool to enhance growth performance through improving intestine function, immunity, and gut microbiome in chicken.

Keywords

• growth performance
• Alhagi honey
• polysaccharides
• gut microbiome
• immune function
• poultry