Effects of Dietary Supplementation of Recombinant Plectasin on Growth Performance, Intestinal Health and Innate Immunity Response in Broilers

The present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation of recombinant plectasin (Ple) on the growth performance, intestinal health, and serum immune parameters in broilers. A total of 288 1-day-old male broilers (Arbor Acres) were randomly allotted to four dietary treatments including the basal diet (NC) and basal diet supplemented with 10 mg enramycin/kg (PC), 100 mg Ple/kg (LPle), and 200 mg Ple/kg (HPle) diets. The results indicated Ple increased (P < 0.01) average daily gain and decreased (P ≤ 0.02) feed to gain ratio of broilers. In addition, the supplementation of Ple in the diets increased (P ≤ 0.01) duodenal lipase (day 21) and trypsin (day 42) activities compared with the NC group. Similar as the supplementation of enramycin, Ple also increased villus height and decreased crypt depth in jejunum (day 21), and thus the villus height to crypt depth ratio (P < 0.01) was increased compared to the NC group on day 42. The serum immunoglobulin M (days 21 and 42), immunoglobulin G (day 42), complement 3 (day 21), and complement 4 (days 21 and 42) were significantly increased (P ≤ 0.02) due to the supplementation of Ple and enramycin, while the concentration of malondialdehyde in jejunum was decreased (P < 0.01) in PC, LPle, and HPle groups on day 21 compared with those in the NC group. Furthermore, Ple reduced (P < 0.01) Escherichia coli and total aerobic bacteria population in ileum and cecum of birds on days 21 and 42. These results indicate that the recombinant plectasin has beneficial effects on growth performance, intestinal health, and innate immunity in broilers.