ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microorganisms in Vertebrate Digestive Systems
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1662502
This article is part of the Research TopicNew Insights into the Avian Gut MicrobiomesView all 10 articles
Dietary low levels of Eucommia ulmoides leaf extracts: Effects on antioxidant capacity, immunity, and cecal microbiota in lipopolysaccharide-challenged broilers
Provisionally accepted
- Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu, China
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Effects of dietary low levels of Eucommia ulmoides leaf extracts (EULE) on antioxidant capacity, immunity, and cecal microbiota in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) -challenged broilers were investigated. A total of 400 21-day-old Ross 308 male broilers were divided into 5 groups, with 8 replicates per group and 10 birds per replicate. They were fed a basal diet (CON group and LPS group) or a basal diet supplemented with 100, 200, or 300 mg/kg EULE (EULE100, EULE200, and EULE300 groups) for 10 consecutive days. The results showed that growth performance and relative organ weights were not affected by either LPS injection or EULE supplementation (P>0.05), but dietary supplementation with EULE decreased the increased relative organ weights in LPS-induced broilers. LPS challenge decreased the level of catalase (CAT), Faecalibacterium, and increased the level of Interleukin 4 (IL-4), which were improved by EULE (P<0.05). Furthermore, EULE200 and EULE300 reduced the levels of IL-1β, IL-2 and IL-6 in LPS-induced broilers. EULE300 significantly decreased the serum malondialdehyde (MDA) level and increased the level of total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), and reduced the proportion of harmful genera Erysipelatoclostridium in cecum. These results suggested that dietary inclusion EULE, even low levels (100, 200, or 300 mg/kg), could exhibited significant anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidation effects, modulated cecal microbiota structure and restore cecum barrier function caused by LPS stimulation.
Keywords: broiler, Eucommia ulmoides leaf extract, antioxidant capacity, Immunity, Cecal microbiota
Received: 09 Jul 2025; Accepted: 17 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Guo, Han and Yang. 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: Yan Guo, guoyan368@126.com
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