Seaweed Boosts Chickens' Growth and Health

Seaweed is packed with complex sugars, like laminarins, which can act like prebiotics. These sugars can help feed good bacteria in the gut. A study looked into how feeding seaweed products from Saccharina latissima to chickens or their parent hens could affect the chickens' growth, gut health, and immune system. The experiment started with 45 hens. These hens were given one of three diets: a regular diet, a diet with 0. 6% seaweed meal, or a diet with 0. 08% seaweed extract. The eggs from these hens were then used in a follow-up experiment. Half of the chicks from each group were fed a regular diet, while the other half got a diet with 725 ppm seaweed extract. The chicks were weighed at various points: at hatching, and on days 3, 7, 14, and 37. Blood samples were taken on days 3, 7, and 12 to check for immune cell counts and antibody levels. Some chickens were euthanized to examine their organ development on days 7, 14, and 37. On day 7, the small intestine tissue was also examined under a microscope. The findings were interesting. Chicks that ate the seaweed extract diet gained more weight on days 3, 7, and 37. They also had more of their own antibodies and fewer maternal antibodies against a virus called infectious bronchitis by day 12. This suggests that the seaweed extract might help chicks develop their own immune response faster.

The seaweed extract also changed the types of immune cells in the chicks' blood. There were more helper T-cells and a specific type of T-cell receptor. However, there were fewer of another type of T-cell and a different T-cell receptor. This shows that seaweed extract can alter the immune system in complex ways. When the parent hens were fed seaweed extract, their chicks weighed more on day 7. The structure of the chicks' intestines was also better, with taller villi and shallower crypts. This indicates that seaweed extract can improve gut health in chicks, even when the chicks themselves don't eat it directly. However, there was no extra benefit when both the parent hens and the chicks were fed seaweed extract. This means that feeding seaweed to either the hens or the chicks is beneficial, but doing both doesn't provide additional advantages. In summary, feeding seaweed extract directly to chickens can boost their growth and change their immune cell makeup. Feeding it to parent hens can improve their chicks' early growth and gut health. But, feeding it to both the hens and the chicks doesn't give any extra perks.

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