Gut Microbiota and Intestinal Morphology of Growing Quails as Affected by Dietary Addition of Tryptophan or/and Canthaxanthin

Elkholy, Khaled; Sokariaa, Mohamed; El-Ratel, Ibrahim

doi:10.21608/djas.2025.409421

Gut Microbiota and Intestinal Morphology of Growing Quails as Affected by Dietary Addition of Tryptophan or/and Canthaxanthin

Document Type : Original research papers

Authors

¹ Animal, Poultry and Fish Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Damietta University, Egypt

² Animal, Poultry and Fish Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Damietta University, Egypt.

10.21608/djas.2025.409421

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of dietary addition with tryptophan (Trp) or/and Canthaxanthin (CX) on the meat and cecal microbiota and intestinal morphology of growing Japanese quails. Two hundred day-old unsexed Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica) with an average of initial live body weight (BW) of 33.50± 1.20 g were equally allocated randomly into four groups (five replicates per group of 10 chicks in each). The first group was fed basal diet without dietary addition from 1 to 5 wks (control, T1), while Trp and CX at a rate of 0.01 and 0.005%, respectively were mixed with the basal feed of the 2^nd (T2) and 3^rd (T3). While the 4^th group (T4) of chicks received mixture of trp+CX at the same studied level. The results showed that dietary addition of Trp or CX or mixture of Trp+CX significantly (P<0.05) decreased populations of total aerobic mesophilic and coliform bacteria counts in the meat, while lactic acid bacteria was significantly (P<0.05) increased in meat as a result of dietary Trp and/or CX in compared to control group. Also, E. coli and salmonella of the ceca were significantly reduced in the combination treatment compared to the control. The jejunum villi of growing Japanese quails from all experimental groups were significantly higher and (P< 0.001), while their jejunum villi crypts were significantly deeper (P<0.001) in comparison with these parameters in quails belongs of the control group. The villus height to crypt depth ratio of growing Japanese quails, were significantly increased (P<0.001) in experimental groups of growing Japanese quails in compared to control group. In conclusion, these findings suggest that dietary addition of Trp and/or CX has a beneficial effect on growing Japanese quail’s intestinal morphology and meat and cecal microbiota.

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