Evolution of Intestinal Viscosity in Broilers According to NSP Type and Levels in the Wheat-Based Forage Mixture

Abstract

The objective of this experiment was to assess the effect exerted by different levels and categories of non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) from wheat grains on viscosity in broilers. Wheat’s percentage of participation in the forage mixture was between 0 and 40 %. The experiment was performed during 6 weeks, on 120 broilers distributed in four experimental variants (CG, EG1, EG2, and EG3). Between eclosion and 3-week old, the content in soluble non-starch polysaccharides (NSPs) increases directly proportional with the wheat proportion in the structure of the forage mixture, becoming 0.718 percentage points bigger in EG3 than in the EG1. During the second period of growth, respectively from 3 to 6 weeks, the NSPs content has the same evolution, with 0.7 percentage points in EG3. At the age of 3 weeks, viscosity increases with the increase of wheat percentage in the structure of the combined forage, being 53.07 % bigger in the group that was fed on the 40%-wheat forage. At 6 weeks, at duodenum level in EG2, viscosity had values of 2.53cP, 49.04% bigger compared with EG1. At jejuna level, viscosity increases like in duodenum, being also 33.15% bigger in the group fed on combined forage including 40 % wheat, too (EG2 – 3.13cP), compared with the group fed on combined forage without wheat (2.1cP).