AUTHOR=Das Quail , Islam Md. Rashedul , Lepp Dion , Tang Joshua , Yin Xianhua , Mats Lili , Liu Huaizhi , Ross Kelly , Kennes Yan Martel , Yacini Hassina , Warriner Keith , Marcone Massimo F. , Diarra Moussa S. TITLE=Gut Microbiota, Blood Metabolites, and Spleen Immunity in Broiler Chickens Fed Berry Pomaces and Phenolic-Enriched Extractives JOURNAL=Frontiers in Veterinary Science VOLUME=7 YEAR=2020 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2020.00150 DOI=10.3389/fvets.2020.00150 ISSN=2297-1769 ABSTRACT=
This study evaluated the performance, gut microbiota, and blood metabolites in broiler chickens fed cranberry and blueberry products for 30 days. A total of 2,800 male day-old broiler Cobb-500 chicks were randomly distributed between 10 diets: control basal diet; basal diet with bacitracin (BACI); four basal diets with 1 and 2% of cranberry (CP1, CP2) and blueberry (BP1, BP2) pomaces; and four basal diets supplemented with ethanolic extracts of cranberry (COH150, COH300) or blueberry (BOH150, BOH300) pomaces. All groups were composed of seven replicates (40 birds per replicate). Cecal and cloacal samples were collected for bacterial counts and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Blood samples and spleens were analyzed for blood metabolites and gene expressions, respectively. The supplementation of COH300 and BOH300 significantly increased the body weight (BW) during the starting and growing phases, respectively, while COH150 improved (