Effects of oligosaccharides on performance, intestinal morphology, microbiota and immune reactions in laying hens challenged with dextran sodium sulfate.

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of oligosaccharide extract from bamboo shoot (BOS) on the performance, intestinal morphology, microbiota and immune reaction of laying hens challenged with dextran sodium sulfate (DSS). Thirty-two White Leghorn hens (480 days old) were divided into 4 groups (8 hens each) with similar mean body weights: C (basal diet), D (basal diet + DSS), B (5 g/kg BOS diet), and BD (5 g/kg BOS diet + DSS). They were administered a single oral dose of 4 mL of distilled water/kg body weight with or without 0.45 g of DSS for 7 consecutive days from the 14th d to the 21st d of the experiment. The important findings were that (1) The egg yolk ratio was decreased by DSS treatment, but it was improved by BOS treatment, which also increased the egg shell ratio. (2) The diversity of intestinal microbiota and relative abundance of 4 bacteria genera were increased by BOS treatment. (3) Intestinal morphology was not affected by DSS and BOS, but the leukocytes accumulation in the liver was increased by DSS treatment and suppressed by BOS treatment. (4) Dietary BOS treatment influenced the mRNA expression of Th-1 and Treg cytokines in the liver and Th-17 cytokines in both intestine and liver of laying hens. These results suggest that BOS may enhance egg quality, Th-1 and Th-17 immune function without causing tissue damage under normal condition, and may suppress the excessive inflammatory responses during inflammation.