Effects of dietary Chinese herbal mixtures on productive performance, egg quality, immune status, caecal and offspring meconial microbiota of Wenchang breeder hens

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of Chinese herbal mixtures (CHMs) on productive performance, egg quality, immune status, anti-apoptosis ability, caecal microbiota, and offspring meconial microbiota in hens. A total of 168 thirty-week-old Wenchang breeder hens were randomly divided into two groups, with each group comprising six replicate pens of fourteen hens. The groups were fed a basal diet (CON group) and a basal diet with 1,000 mg/kg CHMs (CHMs group) for 10 weeks. Our results showed that dietary supplementation with CHMs increased the laying rate, average egg weight, hatch of fertile, and offspring chicks' weight while concurrently reducing the feed conversion ratio (FCR) and embryo mortality (p < 0.05). The addition of CHMs resulted in significant improvements in various egg quality parameters, including eggshell strength, albumen height, haugh unit, and the content of docosatetraenoic acid (C20:4n-6) in egg yolk (p < 0.05). The supplementation of CHMs had a greater concentration of IgA and IgG while decreasing the content of IL-6 in serum compared with the CON group (p < 0.05). Addition of CHMs to the diet increased the expression of Bcl-2 and IL-4 in liver and ovary, decreased the expression of IL-1β, Bax, and Caspase-8 in jejunum and ovary, and decreased the expression of NF-κB in liver, jejunum, and ovary (p < 0.05). Moreover, dietary CHMs reduced the abundance of Desulfovibrio in caecal microbiota as well as decreased the abundance of Staphylococcaceae_Staphylococcus and Pseudomonadaceae_Pseudomonas in the offspring meconial microbiota (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the CHMs could improve productive parameters by enhancing immune status, anti-apoptosis capacity, and modulating the caecal microbiota of Wenchang breeder hens, as well as maintaining the intestinal health of the offspring chicks.

Keywords: Chinese herbal mixtures; Wenchang breeder hens; egg quality; immune status; intestinal microbiota.

Figure 1

Effects of dietary CHMs on immunoglobulins and inflammatory factors of breeder hens. (A) Serum IgA, IgG; (B) Serum IL-6; (C,D) The expressions of inflammatory genes (TLR4, MyD88, NF-κB, IL-1β, IL-4) in liver, jejunum and ovary, respectively. The data were expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 6). *p < 0.05 and **p < 0.01 vs. CON group.

Figure 2

The impact of dietary CHMs on apoptosis-related factors in breeder hens. (A) Serum Caspase-8 concentration; (B–D) Relative mRNA expression of apoptosis-related genes in the live, jejunum and ovary, including Bcl-2, Bax, Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and Caspase-8. The data were expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 6). *p < 0.05 and **p < 0.01 vs. CON group.

Figure 3

Gut microbiota diversity of breeder hens and offspring chicks. (A,B) Venn diagram of caecal and meconial microbiota on OTUs level. (C,D) PCoA two-dimensional figure based on Bray_Curtis distance analysis. (E,F) Alpha diversity, including Chao 1, Observed_species, Shannon index and Simpson index. The data were expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 4). *p < 0.05, vs. CON group.

Figure 4

Gut microbiota structure of breeder hens and offspring chicks. (A,B) Relative abundance of caecal and meconial microbiota on phylum and genus level. (C–F) The significant difference genera and phylum between two groups on caecal and meconial microbiota, respectively. (G,H) LEfSE taxonomic cladogram between two groups on caecal and meconial microbiota (LDA > 3). The data were expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 4). *p < 0.05, vs. CON group.

Figure 5

Matrix diagram of the correlation analysis. (A) Spearman correlation analysis among the cecal microbiota, laying performance, and serum indices. (B) Spearman correlation analysis between the meconial microbiota and weight of offspring chicks. Positive and negative correlations are shown by the blue and red matrices, respectively. *p < 0.05 (n = 4).