ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.

Sec. Microorganisms in Vertebrate Digestive Systems

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1587832

This article is part of the Research TopicNew Insights into the Avian Gut MicrobiomesView all articles

Effects of dietary formic acid polymer supplementation on growth performance, blood parameters, and intestinal health in lipopolysaccharide-challenged broilers

Provisionally accepted
Guohui ZhouGuohui Zhou1Yuemeng FuYuemeng Fu1Changjin LiChangjin Li1Changfei AnChangfei An2Yang LiYang Li1Weiren YangWeiren Yang1Ning JiaoNing Jiao1Jiang ShuzhenJiang Shuzhen1Xuejun YuanXuejun Yuan3Jiali ChenJiali Chen1*
  • 1College of Animal Science and Technology, Shandong Agricultural University, Taian, China
  • 2Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Jiangbei Watertown Resort District, Liao'cheng, China
  • 3College of Life Sciences, Shandong Agricultural University, Taian, China

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This experiment was performed to investigate the impacts of formic acid polymer (FAP) supplementation to the diet on the growth performance, blood metabolites, as well as intestinal barrier function related indicators of broilers under lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation. A total of 450 oneday-old male Arbor Acres broilers with similar body weights were assigned to one of three experimental groups: control (CON) group, basal diet; LPS group, basal diet with LPS (1 mg/kg body weight) challenge; LPS+FAP group, basal diet supplemented with FAP (1,000 mg/kg) and LPS (1 mg/kg body weight) challenge. Each group had 6 replicates of 25 broilers. LPS was injected on days 17, 19, and 21. Samples were collected on day 21, 3 hours post-challenge. The experiment lasted 21 days. LPS treatment reduced growth performance, immune function, and caused systemic inflammation, intestinal barrier damage, and microbiota dysbiosis in broilers. However, FAP supplementation significantly reversed these effects by reducing the feed-to-gain ratio and serum levels of interleukin (IL)-1β and tumor necrosis factor-α (P < 0.05), while increasing serum levels of complement C4, IL-10, and immunoglobulin M (P < 0.05). FAP also improved villus height, trefoil factor family, and mucin 2 levels, decreased caspase activities (P < 0.05), and reduced harmful bacteria while promoting beneficial bacteria. To sum up, supplementing 1,000 mg/kg of FAP to the diet effectively enhanced immune function, and mitigated the systemic inflammatory response and intestinal barrier damage caused by LPS, thereby improving broiler growth performance.

Keywords: broiler, Formic acid, Gut Microbiota, Inflammation, intestinal barrier 1

Received: 05 Mar 2025; Accepted: 30 Apr 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Zhou, Fu, Li, An, Li, Yang, Jiao, Shuzhen, Yuan and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Jiali Chen, College of Animal Science and Technology, Shandong Agricultural University, Taian, China

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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