Impact of dietary nano-scale zinc oxide supplementation on growth performance, jejunum morphology, and intestinal microbiota in broilers.

OBJECTIVES

Given the widespread adoption of nanotechnology, this study aimed to investigate the utilization of zinc nanoparticles as a dietary supplement for broiler chickens.

METHODS

A total of 480 day-old Arbor Acres Plus broilers (mixed-sex) were used to evaluate the effects of dietary zinc oxide nanoparticles (Nano-ZnO) on growth performance, jejunum morphology, blood parameters and cecal microbiota. All poultry were randomly divided into 4 groups according to initial body weight. Each group had six repeating cages with 20 chickens in each cage. The experiment lasted for 42 days. Dietary treatment was based on the base diet and supplemented with 25, 50, 100 mg/kg Nano-ZnO.

RESULTS

Our results showed that Nano-ZnO improved the growth performance and jejunal villus morphology of broilers (p < 0.05). Blood parameter analysis revealed that 25 mg/kg Nano-ZnO significantly increased serum levels of albumin (ALB), total protein (TP), and globulin (GLB) (p < 0.05). Moreover, compared with the Con group, the 25 mg/kg Nano-ZnO group exhibited higher relative abundances of Bacteroides, Parasutterella, UCG-055, and Parabacteroides at the genus level in the cecal microbiota. Additionally, Nano-ZnO increased the abundance of Lactobacillus in fecal microorganisms (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

In summary, we conclude that dietary supplementation with 25 mg/kg of Nano-ZnO is an effective approach for enhancing the growth performance of broiler chicks. It achieves this by optimizing intestinal morphology and cecal microorganisms.