Growth performance and histological intestinal alterations of sanuki cochin chickens fed diets diluted with untreated whole-grain paddyrice

Abstract

The effects of dietary untreated whole-grain paddy rice (WPR) on performance and histological intestinal alterations were investigated in Sanuki Cochin male chicks. At 2 weeks of age, chicks showing similar body weights were randomly divided into 3 groupsof 10 birdseach. The control group wasfed with a basal diet (starter diet: CP 21%, ME 3000 kcal/kg; grower diet: CP 18%, ME 2850 kcal/kg; finisher diet: CP 15%, ME 2800 kcal/kg) and the other groups were fed with the basal diet diluted with WPR at 20% (starter diet: CP 17.8%, ME 2958 kcal/kg; grower diet: CP 15.4%, ME 2838 kcal/kg; finisher diet: CP 13%, ME 2798 kcal/kg) and 40% (starter diet: CP 14.6%, ME 2916 kcal/kg; grower diet: CP 12.8%, ME 2826 kcal/kg; finisher diet: CP 11%, ME 2796 kcal/kg). They were housed in individual cagesunder natural room temperature (around 5°C) with a daily lighting regimen of 16 h of light and 8 h of dark. The growth performance, relative length of the intestines and relative weight of the visceral organs to 100 g body weight did not differ except that the weight of the gizzard increased significantly (p<0.05) in the WPR groups. Most parametersof villusheight, villusarea, cell area and cell mitosisnumbersof the WPR groupsdid not show a significant decrease. In scanning electron microscopic results, the morphology of the villus apical surface in theWPR groups did not show damage due to WPR and had similar cells to the control (protuberated cells). These results demonstrate that WPR can be diluted by up to 40% as a feed ingredient in chicken basal diets. © 2014, Japan Poultry Science Association.