The document discusses the importance of gut health in poultry, emphasizing the role of enzymes in digestion and overall physiological health. It outlines factors that influence gut health, including macronutrient digestion, gut morphology, and microbial populations, while also addressing the impact of exogenous enzymes on nutrient absorption and immunological function. The conclusions highlight that improving gut health goes beyond disease prevention and involves optimizing nutrient availability through various strategies, particularly in the context of antibiotic growth promoter removal.

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2. Towards Optimum Enteric
Resilience in Poultry
Aaron, Cowieson
Principal Scientist DSM Nutritional Products
Adjunct Professor University of Sydney

3. 3
• Defining gut health
• Enzymes and digestive health
• Enzymes and physiological health
• Enzymes and microbiological health
• Enzymes and immunological health
• Conclusions
Presentation Overview

4. 4
‘…a steady state where the microflora and the intestinal
tract exist in symbiotic equilibrium and where the
welfare and performance of the animal is not
constrained by intestinal disfunction.’
Defining gut health

5. 5
• Shift in site and completeness of macro-nutrient digestion
• Changing gut morphology: macro and micro
• Changing gut environment e.g. viscosity, pH, ions, temperature
• Changing growth rate of the bird (maturity:metabolic BW)
• Changing litter composition and moisture content
• Altered soluble and insoluble NSP dynamics
• Altered microbial populations
• Changing rate of passage and residency of feed
• Changing immune status
• Altered digestive enzyme complement
• Altered nutrient transport function
• Altered partitioning of nutrients
• Altered feed matrix – ingredient and processing levels
• Altered water intake
Potential converging areas: gut health
and exogenous enzymes

6. Enzymes and digestion
6

7. 7
• Is intestinal absorptive capacity a rate limiting
step for poultry performance?
Croom et al. (1999)

8. 8
• Development of digestive enzymes with age
(turkey poults)
Krogdahl & Sell (1989)

9. 9
• Whilst pancreatic enzyme output increases with age, body mass increases rapidly
and digestive tissue decreases as a proportion of body weight
• Krogdahl & Sell (1989) show the below.
• As a % of BW there is 4 times more intestinal tissue in a young chick with only 40%
of the pancreatic output per gram of pancreas
• OLDER birds, NOT younger, may be limited by digestive capacity
• Is this why there are conflicting reports on the effect of
age on digestibility in broilers?
– Wallis & Balnave, 1984
– Ten Doeschate et al. 1993
– Huang et al. 2005
– etc
Implications

10. Enzymes and gut physiology
10

11. 11
• Sources of endogenous loss
Pancreatic and gastric enzymes
Mucin
Bile
Acids
Bicarbonate
Intestinal cells
(Microbial protein)
Saliva
• ‘Loss’ defined when an endogenous secretion
leaves the ileum (amino acid cost to the animal)
where there will be no further reabsorption
BALANCE OF
SECRETION AND
ABSORPTION!
Endogenous loss (Moughan & Rutherfurd, 2012)

12. 12
Low (1980)

13. 13
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Asp
Thr
Ser
G
lu
Pro
G
ly
Ala
Val
Ile
Leu
Tyr
Phe
H
is
Lys
Arg
C
ys
M
et
%ofaminoacid
• amino acids of most significance, overall, are ser, gly, leu, pro, val, thr, asp
• of least significance are met and his
Amino acid profile of endogenous proteins
• mean amino acid profile of 8 sources of endogenous protein

14. 14
• Reduced antinutritive effects of e.g. phytate and fibre via
exogenous enzymes – reduced endogenous loss
• Supplementation with exogenous enzymes can directly influence
endogenous production e.g. Jiang et al. (2008) – amylase mRNA
2,250mg/kg of supplementary amylase reduced pancreatic amylase
mRNA by around 20%
• Exogenous enzymes can alter GIT length and improve net energy
e.g. Cowieson et al. (2003), Pirgozliev et al. (2009, 2010)
• Enzymes can reduce loss of endogenous amino acids (Cowieson
et al. 2004)
Exogenous enzymes and endogenous secretion

15. 15
Li & Sauer (1994)
• Effect of added fat (canola oil) on amino acid digestibility in piglets

16. 16
-6
-5
-4
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
4
Thr
Ser
Ile
C
ys
A
sp
Val
G
ly
Lys
H
is
Pro
Leu
A
rg
A
la
Tyr
G
lu
Phe
M
etM
EAN
%changeinilealdigestibilityfromPCtoNC
d21 d42
Fat removal may compromise
digestibility of AA

17. 17
• Mean response to ProAct was
around 4% ranging from 5.6% for Thr
to 2.7% for Glu
• AME was significantly increased by
49 Kcal/kg and fat dig by 1%
• Inherent digestibility in the control
diet explained around 47% of the
variance in response (Fig above)
• Pattern of response is correlated
with the AA profile of intestinal
mucin (Fig right)
Cowieson & Roos, 2014: Journal of Applied Animal Nutrition
y = 3.3192x - 6.239
R² = 0.3515
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6
Aminoacidprofileofintestinal
mucin(%)
Change in amino acid digestibility with protease (%)
Digestibility

18. • Interacts with protein
– Protein:phytate
– Type of protein (polarity)
• Reduction of protein solubility
– Increased pepsin and HCl
– Increased mucin and NaHCO3
• May act as a kosmotropic anion on water
structure
Phytate as an anti-nutrient

19. 8.3
7.0 7.3
21.7
6.1
7.0
3.0
4.5 4.3
4.7
1.6 2.2 1.7
3.7
2.0 2.1 1.3
9.8
9.1
10.5
18.5
7.0
9.2
2.4
4.6 4.8 4.8
1.5 1.8 1.7
3.4
2.6 2.3
2.0
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
5000
Endogenousflow(mgAA/kgDMintake)
Basal IP6
• Basal + 4g/kg Phytate-P
•Total AA flow +87.6%
• N flow +78%
• Ser +152%; Thr +135%
• Glu +49%; Ala +29%
P<0.05 for most amino acids
Asp Thr Ser Glu Pro Gly Ala Val Ile Leu Tyr Phe His Lys Arg Cys Met
Cowieson & Ravindran, 2007

20. Cowieson & Ravindran, 2007
9.8
9.1
10.5
18.5
7.0
7.0
2.4
4.6 4.8 4.8
1.5 1.8 1.7
3.4
2.6 2.3
2.0
10.2
7.7
9.5
21.9
6.0
8.6
2.5
4.5 4.6 4.8
1.7 1.6 1.3
3.4
2.1 2.3
1.2
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
5000
Endogenousflow(mgAA/kgDMintake)
• 4g/kg Phytate + phytase
•Total AA flow -21%
• N flow -19%
• Cys -86%; Thr -75%
• Tyr -16%; Glu -5%
P<0.05 for most amino acids
Asp Thr Ser Glu Pro Gly Ala Val Ile Leu Tyr Phe His Lys Arg Cys Met

21. Enzymes and gut
microbiology
21

22. 22
• Substrate limitation (proximal shift)
• Viscosity reduction
• pH reduction
• Direct lysis
• Fermentation changes e.g. xylo-oligomers
• Others
Ways in which exogenous enzymes
influence the gut microflora

23. Caecal thermogenesis
Cowieson & Masey-O’Neil (2013)
23

24. 24
0.5
0.7
0.9
1.1
1.3
1.5
1.7
1.9
2.1
Canola Canola+ProAct SBM SBM+ProAct
Claudin1
SLC7A2
• Endogenous loss – bacterial changes/fermentation of protein?
• Mucin integrity and enzyme consequences
• Ion balance in the intestine e.g. NaCl egress and nutrient transport
• Tight junctions (Purdue University data, In press) – ProAct P < 0.05
Enzymes and bacterial/gut influences

25. Enzymes and immunology
25

26. 26
• Resistence: ability to repel an infectious agent
• Resilience: ability to maintain productivity during challenge
• Nutrient requirements change during immune challenge
– Linoleic acid, vitamin A, iron, selenium, B vitamins
– AA requirements shift
• Exogenous enzymes improve bioavailability of minerals and
amino acids required to improve resilience (not from
Klasing!)
Klasing (1998)

27. 27
• Ala, Gly, Leu & Ser are disproportionately
required for synthesis of avian acute phase
proteins
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Ala Cys Asp Glu Phe Gly His Ile Lys Leu Met Asn Pro Gln Arg Ser Thr Val Trp Tyr
%ofaminoacidinavianAPPs
Acute Phase Protein (AA profiles)

28. 28
• Gut health is more than the absence of disease and goes well
beyond the microbial flora
• Tensile strength, collagen integrity, mucin integrity, enzyme output
and composition, absorptive capacity and appropriate
immunological resilience are all key
• Exogenous enzymes can improve gut health directly via e.g. shift in
digestion site, improved mucin integrity and indirectly though
liberation of nutrients needed for immune responses
• As AGP removal becomes more commonplace feed enzymes will
form a large part of the toolbox of microbial countermeasures we
have
Conclusions

29. Aaron, Cowieson
DSM Nutritional Products
University of Sydney
Principal Scientist & Adjunct Prof
www.dsm.com
Aaron.cowieson@dsm.com
+447795520661
Contact