Research On Animal Production

In present study the effect of different routes of probiotic administration on performance and small intestinal morphology of Japanese quails was studied. Total of 144 Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) one-day old chicks were divided into 3 experimental groups after hatch including: A. control (without  probiotics), B. oral group (dosed by 10⁷ cfu/50 µl probiotics via oesophageal gavage) and C. vent lip group (dosed 10⁷ cfu/10 µl probiotics directly into vent). Protexin (Protexin, Somerset, UK) was used as probiotics. On d 35 after all birds weighed, three birds in every pen (12 in each experimental group) were killed via cervical dislocation. One cm of midpoint of duodenum and ileum were cut for histomorphology assays. Oral group had higher body weight, body weight gain and feed intake than control (P < 0.05). Ileum was longer in vent lip group than the other groups (P < 0.05). Oral-treated birds had higher duodenum villus height and crypt depth than control birds (P < 0.05). In the cloacal-treated quails, ileum had higher villus height than the other birds (P < 0.05) and deeper crypt than control birds (P < 0.05). The numbers of both types of goblet cells (acidic mucin producer and neutral mucin producer) were higher in birds received probiotics (P < 0.05). Based on the results the entrance route of probiotics could influence the location of intestinal morphological changes.