title: Assessment of caecal parameters in layer hens fed on diets containing wheat distillers dried grains with solubles.
abstract: There is much interest in quantifying the nutritional value of UK wheat distillers dried grains with solubles (W-DDGS) for livestock species. A study was designed to evaluate caecal parameters (pH, short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and bacterial diversity) in layer hens fed on balanced diets containing graded concentrations of W-DDGS. A total of 32 layer hens (Bovans Brown strain at 27 weeks of age) were randomly allocated to one of 4 dietary treatments containing W-DDGS at 0, 60, 120 or 180 g/kg. Each treatment was fed to 8 replicate individually housed layer hens over a 5-d acclimatisation period, followed by a 4-week trial. Individual feed intakes were monitored and all eggs were collected daily for weeks 2, 3 and 4 of the trial, weighed and an assessment of eggshell "dirtiness" made. All hens were culled on d 29 and caecal pH and SCFAs measured. Polymerase chain reaction denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of the bacterial 16 S rDNA gene was used to assess total bacterial diversity of luminal caecal content from hens fed the 0 and 180 g W-DDGS/kg diets. Unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) dendrograms were generated from DGGE banding patterns. Increasing W-DDGS dietary concentrations resulted in a more acidic caecal environment. Caecal SCFAs were unaffected by diet aside from a quadratic effect for molar proportions of isobutyric acid. Diversity profiles of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene from luminal caecal contents were unaffected by W-DDGS inclusion. The results of the current study suggest that W-DDGS can be successfully formulated into nutritionally balanced layer diets (supplemented with xylanase and phytase) at up to 180 g/kg with no detrimental effects to the caecal environment.
authors.affiliation: a Division of Animal Sciences, School of Biosciences, Sutton Bonington Campus , University of Nottingham , Loughborough , Leicestershire , LE12 5RD , UK.
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Richards
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Mellits
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wiseman
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed / Q000032:analysis; D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena / Q000187:drug effects*; D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification; D002432:Cecum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology*; D002645:Chickens / Q000502:physiology*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D004032:Diet / Q000662:veterinary; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D002523:Edible Grain / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D011897:Random Allocation; D014908:Triticum / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial