Benzoic Acid, , and Essential Oil Complexes Improve Ovarian and Intestinal Health Via Modulating Gut Microbiota in Laying Hens Challenged with and Coccidia

Overview

Journal Animals (Basel)

Date 2025 Feb 13

PMID 39943069

Authors

Hongye Zhang

Fengjia Liang

Haojie Gong

Xiangbing Mao

Xuemei Ding

Shiping Bai

Qiufeng Zeng

Yue Xuan

Keying Zhang

Jianping Wang

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Intestinal disease is becoming increasingly prevalent in poultry production; however, the effect of BEC in laying hens challenged with and coccidia is limited. This study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation with BEC on intestinal and ovarian health in laying hens challenged with and coccidia. A total of 80 Lohmann gray hens (35 weeks) were randomly assigned to two dietary groups supplemented with BEC (0 or 1000 mg/kg). Each group contained 40 replicates, with one bird each (one hen per cage). During the sixth week of the trial, half of the laying hens in each group ( = 20) were administered 40 mL (2.5 × 10 CFU/mL) and 0.15 mL coccidia (55,000 sporangia/mL), while the other half ( = 20) were administered 40 mL phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). The results indicated that those challenged with and coccidia had severely damaged jejunal and ovarian histopathological morphology, increased oxidative damage, decreased cecal acetic acid and butyric acid content ( < 0.05), and resulted in lower gut microbial richness and diversity. The diet of 1000 mg/kg BEC reduced the jejunal and ovarian pathological damage and oxidative damage, increased short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) content, and enhanced gut microbial richness and diversity ( < 0.05) in laying hens challenged with and coccidia. Furthermore, the positive effects of BEC on intestinal health were associated with changes in gut microbial composition and structure. In summary, dietary supplementation with BEC has the potential to reduce the severity of intestinal and ovarian damage caused by challenges posed by and coccidia through the modulation of gut microbiota.

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