Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Apr 19;12(1):51.
doi: 10.1186/s40104-021-00576-0.

Dietary fiber in poultry nutrition and their effects on nutrient utilization, performance, gut health, and on the environment: a review

Rajesh Jha  1 , Pravin Mishra  2
Affiliations
Review

Dietary fiber in poultry nutrition and their effects on nutrient utilization, performance, gut health, and on the environment: a review

Rajesh Jha et al. J Anim Sci Biotechnol. .

Abstract

Dietary fiber (DF) was considered an antinutritional factor due to its adverse effects on feed intake and nutrient digestibility. However, with increasing evidence, scientists have found that DF has enormous impacts on the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) development, digestive physiology, including nutrient digestion, fermentation, and absorption processes of poultry. It may help maintain the small and large intestine's integrity by strengthening mucosal structure and functions and increasing the population and diversity of commensal bacteria in the GIT. Increasing DF content benefits digestive physiology by stimulating GIT development and enzyme production. And the inclusion of fiber at a moderate level in diets also alters poultry growth performance. It improves gut health by modulating beneficial microbiota in the large intestine and enhancing immune functions. However, determining the source, type, form, and level of DF inclusion is of utmost importance to achieve the above-noted benefits. This paper critically reviews the available information on dietary fibers used in poultry and their effects on nutrient utilization, GIT development, gut health, and poultry performance. Understanding these functions will help develop nutrition programs using proper DF at an appropriate inclusion level that will ultimately lead to enhanced DF utilization, overall health, and improved poultry growth performance. Thus, this review will help researchers and industry identify the sources, type, form, and amount of DF to be used in poultry nutrition for healthy, cost-effective, and eco-friendly poultry production.

Keywords: Chicken; Dietary fiber; Environment; Gastrointestinal tract; Immunity; Intestinal microbiota.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The major components of dietary fiber as part of the total carbohydrate
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Hipsley EH. Dietary "fibre" and pregnancy toxaemia. Br Med J. 1953;2(4833):420–422. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.4833.420. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bach Knudsen KE. The nutritional significance of “dietary fibre” analysis. Anim Feed Sci Technol. 2001;90(1):3–20. doi: 10.1016/S0377-8401(01)00193-6. - DOI
    1. Jha R, Berrocoso JD. Review: dietary fiber utilization and its effects on physiological functions and gut health of swine. Animal. 2015;9(9):1441–1452. doi: 10.1017/S1751731115000919. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jiménez-Moreno E, Mateos GG. Use of dietery fiber in broilers. San Juan del Rio, Queretaro: In Memorias De La Sexta Reunión Anual Aecacem 2013; 2013.
    1. González-Alvarado JM, Jiménez-Moreno E, González-Sánchez D, Lázaro R, Mateos GG. Effect of inclusion of oat hulls and sugar beet pulp in the diet on productive performance and digestive traits of broilers from 1 to 42 days of age. Anim Feed Sci Technol. 2010;162(1):37–46. doi: 10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2010.08.010. - DOI