Effects of antibacterial peptide microcin J25 on growth performance, antioxidant capacity, intestinal barrier function and intestinal microbiota in pigeon squabs

Abstract

The present study aims to evaluate the effects of the antibacterial peptide Microcin J25 (ABP MccJ25) on growth performance, intestinal barrier function, antioxidant capacity and ileal microbiota in pigeon squabs. The 80 pairs of American Silver King pigeon parents and 240 healthy day 1 squabs were randomly divided into four groups, including 4 parent pairs and 12 pigeon squabs per group with 5 replicates. Parent pigeons were fed a basal diet (CON) or the addition of 100, 200, 300 mg/kg of ABP MccJ25 (ABP100, ABP200, and ABP300, respectively) for 4 weeks. Results showed that the group ABP200 remarkably reduced the feed conversion ratio and increased average daily gain in pigeon squabs from 7 to 21 d (p < 0.05), and improved serum antioxidant capacity in pigeon squabs from 14 to 28 d (p < 0.05). Villus height and the ratio of villus height to crypt depth in the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum were significantly increased in groups ABP200 and ABP300 (p < 0.05). In addition, group ABP200 obviously up-regulated the relative mRNA expression of intestinal antioxidant-related genes and barrier-related genes (p < 0.05). Moreover, the proportion of beneficial bacteria including Firmicutes and Lactobacillales, which were favourable to the intestinal health of pigeon squabs increased noticeably (p < 0.05). Taken together, these results indicated that group ABP200 enhanced antioxidant capacity, strengthened intestinal barrier function, and facilitated the regulation of intestinal microbiota, leading to the improvement in growth performance of pigeon squabs. Therefore, this study provides support for the application of 200 mg/kg ABP MccJ25 in pigeon production.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Dietary supplementation of ABP MccJ25 enhanced the antioxidant capacity in pigeon squabs.

• Dietary supplementation of ABP MccJ25 improved intestinal barrier function and intestinal microbiota in pigeon squabs.

• 200 mg/kg ABP of MccJ25 significantly increased growth performance in pigeon squabs.

Keywords:

• ABP MccJ25
• pigeon squab
• growth performance
• barrier function
• intestinal microbiota

Disclosure statement

The authors reported no potential conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All experimental procedures were implemented according to the Local Experimental Animal Care Committee and approved by the ethics committee of Nanjing Agricultural University (Nanjing, China, SYXK-2019-00085).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, Minli Yu, upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [32372825], the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [KYZ201724] and the Rural Revitalisation of Industrial Development Fund of Nanjing Luhe, China [No. HY0075].