Chicory supplementation improves growth performance in juvenile ostriches potentially by attenuating enteritis.

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Enteritis and dysbiosis are the major causes of high morbidity and mortality of juvenile ostriches. Chicory (CC) has been proven to have excellent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial activities. However, it's unclear whether CC could improve the survival rate of juvenile ostriches by relieving enteritis and correcting dysbiosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: South African ostrich hatchlings () were fed with and without a CC-supplemented diet, and the body weight gain and mortality were compared over 4 months of age. Fresh fecal samples of clinically healthy ostriches were collected, and 16S DNAs were analyzed. Moreover, ostrich chicks with LPS-induced enteritis were fed with different dosages (0, 20, 40, and 80 mg/kg) of chicoric acid (CA), a major bioactive component of CC, for five consecutive days. The expression levels of tight junction (TJ)-related proteins and inflammatory mediators in the ilea were detected with western blot and immunofluorescence. RESULTS: The ostrich chicks fed on the CC-supplemented diet began to increase in weight at the 1st month of age and became remarkably heavier at the fourth month (&#x2009;<&#x2009;0.01) compared with those fed on the non-CC-supplemented diet. Additionally, the mortality percentage was lower in the chicks fed on the CC-supplemented diet than those fed on the non-CC-supplemented diet (19% vs. 36%, respectively). The diet with the CC supplementation significantly increased the abundance of(linear discriminant analysis; LDA >4) and(26.7% vs. 17.7%, respectively) as well as decreased the enrichment of(5.0% vs. 9.1%, respectively) in the ostrich ilea compared to the diet without CC. The supplementation of CA at a dose of 80 mg/kg significantly increased the expression level of ZO-1 and claudin-3 (&#x2009;<&#x2009;0.0001) and suppressed the levels of IL-1&#x3b2;, IL-6, and TNF-&#x3b1; (&#x2009;<&#x2009;0.0001) in ostriches with LPS-induced ileitis. CONCLUSION: Our results substantiate that CC or CA supplementation in a diet could effectively improve growth performance and reduce mortality in juvenile ostriches via modulating the gut microbiota and attenuating enteritis.