A wheat-based diet enhances colonization with the intestinal spirochaete Brachyspira intermedia in experimentally infected laying hens

Figures & data

Composition of the diets used in the experiment

Diet	Wheat diet	Barley diet	Barley+sorghum diet
Ingredient (%)
Wheat	49.24	–	–
Barley	–	50.58	24.65
Sorghum	–	–	25.76
Choline chloride, 75%	0.01	0.01	0.01
Groats	15.00	15.000	15.00
Lupin kernel	7.00	7.00	7.00
Soya-bean meal	11.20	10.00	10.00
Meat and bone meal	2.00	2.35	3.50
Fishmeal (Peruvian)	1.00	1.00	1.00
Canola oil	2.00	2.15	1.00
Limestone fine	10.40	10.00	10.45
Dicalcium phosphate	1.20	1.05	0.75
Salt	0.31	0.23	0.24
DL-Methionine	0.13	0.13	0.14
L-Lysine HCl	0.01	–	–
Enzymes premix	0.25	0.25	0.25
Household layer premix^a	0.25	0.25	0.25
Calculated analysis
AME (kcal/kg)^b	2738	2739	2735
Protein (%)	17.28	17.14	17.00
Calcium (%)	4.45	4.29	4.50
Total phosphate (%)	0.63	0.61	0.63
Available phosphate (%)	0.42	0.40	0.40
Methionine (%)	0.37	0.37	0.37
Total sulphur amino acids (%)	0.68	0.68	0.66
Lysine (%)	0.79	0.80	0.78
Threonine (%)	0.60	0.61	0.60
Tryptophane (%)	0.19	0.18	0.18
Leucine (%)	1.22	1.20	1.33
Fat (%)	4.76	5.10	4.33
Linoleic acid (%)	2.11	2.29	1.73
Crude fibre (%)	3.03	3.87	3.13
Sodium (%)	0.16	0.14	0.16
^aContaining minerals and vitamins to meet the nutritional requirements of birds of this age and weight (National Research Council, 1994).^bApparent metabolizable energy.

Non-starch polysaccharide (NSP) content of the six experimental diets (g/kg)

	Cereal base used in the experimental diets
NSP and free sugar content	Wheat	Wheat+enzyme	Barley	Barley+enzyme	Barley+sorghum	Barley+sorghum+enzyme
Insoluble NSP	75.93	67.72	93.90	85.78	65.61	70.12
Soluble NSP	15.66	17.79	30.65	30.41	20.44	20.98
Total NSP	91.59	85.51	124.55	116.19	86.05	91.10
Free sugars^a	22.82	24.87	26.23	26.48	20.44	24.68
^aIncluding rhamnose, fucose, ribose, arabinose, xylose, mannose, galactose and glucose.

Colonization of birds with B. intermedia, showing number of colonized hens and of faecal-positive samples of a possible 204 taken at 17 samplings between 21 and 26 weeks of age

	Cereal base of diet
Colonization	Wheat	Wheat+enzyme	Barley	Barley+enzyme	Barley+sorghum	Barley+sorghum+enzyme	P value
Number of hens colonized	8	8	7	5	7	8	Not significant
Number of samples positive	42^A	30^AB	25^BC	14^C	20^BC	27^B	0.001
Note: Group values having different superscripts differ at the 5% level of significance (paired chi-squared analysis).

Mean and standard deviation of viscosity of intestinal contents (mPa sec) at postmortem

	Cereal base of diet
Site	Wheat	Wheat+enzyme	Barley	Barley+enzyme	Barley+sorghum	Barley+sorghum+enzyme	P value
Ileum	195^A±0.22	1.69^A±0.28	2.01^AB±0.13	2.41^B±0.70	1.84^A±0.40	1.61^A±0.20	<0.001
Rectum	1.77±0.45	1.48±0.21	1.72±0.24	1.62±0.41	1.47±0.25	1.48±0.36	0.150
Note: Group means having different superscripts differ at the 5% level of significance (Tukey–Kramer multiple comparisons test).

National Research Council (1994). Nutrient Requirements of Poultry 9th rev edn. Washington, DC: Academy Press.

 Google Scholar