Effect of supplementation of modified lignin on gut health in broilers

An experiment was conducted with 180 day-old Cobb broiler chicks to evaluate the effect of modified lignin on gut health. The chicks were randomly allotted into six dietary treatment groups with three replicates of ten birds each for 42 days. The treatments included a control diet as per BIS (2007) [4] (T1), reformulated diet with 2% reduction in metabolizable energy and crude protein (T2), and experimental diets supplemented with 0.2% (T3, T4) and 0.3% (T5, T6) modified lignin in both control and reformulated diets, respectively. The results showed that supplementation of modified lignin at 0.2 and 0.3% significantly enhanced villus height and crypt depth in duodenum, jejunum and ileocecal junction, and also reduced E. coli counts, and increased Lactobacillus counts compared to control and reformulated groups. It was concluded that dietary inclusion of modified lignin effectively improved gut health in broilers.