Effect of Feeding Wet Feed or Wet Feed Fermented by

摘要

Heat stress is an abiotic environmental factor that affects poultry performance and results in several physiological, immunological and behavioral changes in birds. Previous works have illustrated that wet feeding has been considered as a useful agent to improve birds’ ability to resist high ambient temperatures and to enhance our understanding of feed consumption limitations when broilers are fed dry diets. In broilers, wet feeding enhances nutrient use. This research reveals the impacts of three feeding methods (dry feed, wet feed or wet feed fermented with Bacillus licheniformis) on the growth efficiency, intestinal histomorphometry and gene expression of the lipid metabolism- and growth-related genes of broiler chickens. Our findings confirm improved growth and digestibility for fermented wet feed compared with control and wet feed diets; however, wet feed has a negative effect on performance compared with the control group (dry feed). Additionally, fermented wet feed caused a reduced hepatic gene expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) and increased that of fatty acid synthase (FAS).