Gut Microbiota-Polyphenol Interactions in Chicken: A Review

摘要

Gut microbiota play crucial roles in digestion of feed and absorption of nutrients in fast growing chickens. Gut microbiota affects feed conversion ratio, body weight gain, apparent metabolizable energy, residual feed intake, and time taken to attain the desired weight, which have direct influence on the health and productivity of chickens. A normal gut microbiota is therefore very important for optimum health. Factors like the environment, heat stress, and housing conditions can cause detrimental changes in the gut resulting in poor health of birds and decreased production performance. Polyphenols can be used to improve gut health due to their established health benefits and strong antioxidant potential. The interaction between polyphenols and the gut microbiota further generates active metabolites, which can modulate the composition of the chicken gut microbiota. Because of the specificities of the gut microbiota-polyphenols interactions, current knowledge in this area is presented.