Effects of Dietary Tributyrin on Growth Performance, Biochemical Indices, and Intestinal Microbiota of Yellow-Feathered Broilers

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Various antibiotic products in poultry production are gradually being banned around the world due to the adverse problems including the antibiotic residues and antibiotic resistance. Tributyrin was a potential alternative to antibiotics. The results of the present study indicated that tributyrin could improve the growth performance by modulating blood biochemical indices and the cecal microflora composition of yellow-feathered broilers. To the best of our knowledge, few studies investigated the effects of tributyrin on intestinal microbiota and its relationship with growth performance in broilers. This will provide a scientific basis for the application of tributyrin in animal husbandry in this post-antibiotic era. ABSTRACT: This study aimed to evaluate the effects of tributyrin on growth performance, biochemical indices and intestinal microbiota of yellow-feathered broilers. 360 one-day-old chicks were randomly allocated to three treatments with six replicates of 20 chicks each, including a normal control group (NC), an antibiotic group (PC), and a tributyrin (250 mg/kg) group (TB) for 63 days. The results showed that compared with the control, the feed conversion ratio (FCR) in the TB group decreased during the d22 to d42 (p < 0.05) and overall, the final weight and FCR of broilers tended to increase and decrease, respectively. Moreover, the TB group showed the highest creatine concentrations at the entire period (p < 0.05). TB treatment increased the Bacteroidetes relative abundance and decreased Firmicutes. Principal coordinates analysis yielded clear clustering of the three groups. Linear discriminant analysis effect size analysis found seven differentially abundant taxa in the TB group, including several members of Bacteroidedetes. The relative abundance of Eisenbergiella, Phascolarctobacterium, Megasphaera and Intestinimonas increased in tributyrin-treated broilers. Spearman correlation analysis identified a correlation between Eisenbergiella abundance and overall feed efficiency. These results demonstrated that tributyrin could improve the growth performance by modulating blood biochemical indices and the cecal microflora composition of broilers.