Effects of Xylanase and Phytase Supplementation in Diets Containing Moringa oleifera Leaf Meal on Intestinal Morphology and the Relative Size and Weight of Internal Organs of Laying Hens

Gabriel Miranda Macambira¹Carlos Bôa-Viagem Rabello¹Hélia Sharlane De Holanda Oliveira¹Marcos Jose Batista Dos Santos¹Apolônio Gomes Ribeiro²Oziel Saturnino Lins Júnior¹Lucas Delano Nascimento de Sousa¹Igor Luiz Carvalho Máximo¹Lucas Rannier Ribeiro Antonino Carvalho^3*Odrey Mesa Fleitas⁴

• ¹Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil
• ²Universidade Federal da Paraíba - UFPB, Areia - PB, Brazil
• ³Karolinska Institutet (KI), Solna, Sweden
• ⁴Institute of Sports Medicine of Cuba, La Habana, Cuba

Moringa oleifera leaf meal (MOL) can be an alternative food in poultry diets. Still, their use is limited due to the presence of non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) and phytates. The supply of leaves associated with exogenous enzymes can influence the weight, size, and morphology of the intestine, accessory glands, and reproductive system of laying hens. The aim was, therefore, to study the influence of MOL in diets supplemented with and without the enzymes xylanase and phytase, whether associated or not, and their effects on the size and weight of the organs of the gastrointestinal tract, accessory glands, and reproductive system, as well as on the morphological characteristics of the small intestine of laying hens intended for egg production during the peak laying period. A total of 288 laying hens of the Dekalb White strain aged 32 weeks were used, distributed in a completely randomized design in a 2 x 4 factorial arrangement (presence and absence of MOL x 4 forms of enzyme supplementation -with or without) for a total of eight treatments with six replicates of six birds per experimental unit. The treatments consisted of a control diet based on corn and soybean meal and a diet with 5% MOL supplementation followed by three forms of enzyme supplementation (xylanase, phytase, and a mix of the two enzymes). Xylanase, alone or in combination with phytase, played an essential role in reducing the relative size of the small intestine and caeca, as well as improving intestinal morphology by increasing villus height, crypt depth, villus height/crypt depth ratio, mucosal length, and villus width,