Advanced Digestion Enhancing Protein Plus Technology (ADEPPT) helps poultry gain body weight through modulating gut microbiome and cytokines

ADEPPT, comprising a naturally derived polypeptide and polysaccharide complex, restores gut health and microbiome in pigs with diarrhea. It is not clearly known how the gut microbiome might play a role in body weight gain in poultry. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of ADEPPT on gut microbiome, immune system, and body weight gain in poultry. Day-old chickens (n = 110) were randomly segregated into groups. Different percentage (1, 0.5, and 0.1) of ADEPPT was added to diet of treated groups and replaced with starch for control. All birds were housed in standard conditions. Blood and feces were collected at the end of the 6-wk experiment. DNA was extracted from feces using the PowerSoil DNA extraction kit. The V4 variable region of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene was amplified and libraries were constructed using a dual index approach and sequenced on a MiSeq V3. Cytokines were measured in plasma by ELISA methods (Cusabio). All statistical analyses including α and β diversity, estimation, and indicator species were performed using various packages in the R statistical interface. A substantial body weight gain (13%, P < 0.05) was observed in 0.1% treated group as compared with control. Feces of all groups were negative of Salmonella and E. coli. Our preliminary microbiome studies showed beneficial differences in terms of bacterial community richness and Shannon index diversity in the ADEPPT-treated group compared with control. In addition, the microbiomes of the treated group were beneficially discriminated based on a Bray-Curtis distance PCoA. Indicator species analyses showed the bacterial species were positively discriminated between 0.1% treated and control groups. Blood serum analysis for cytokines showed the downregulation of IL-1β (33%), IL-6 (55%), and IL-10 (20%), and upregulation of interferon-γ (11%). These findings suggest that ADEPPT significantly increases body weight gain through improving the gut microbiome and immune boosting response in chickens.

Key Words: digestion, gut health, microbiome, immune booster, nutraceutical.

Presented at the 9th Symposium on Gut Health in Production of Food Animals, St. Louis, USA, 2021. For information on the next edition, click here.