Beneficial Effect of Bidens pilosa on Body Weight Gain, Food Conversion Ratio, Gut Bacteria and Coccidiosis in Chickens

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 11; no. 1; p. e0146141
• Main Authors: Chang, Cicero L. T., Chung, Chih-Yao, Kuo, Chih-Horng, Kuo, Tien-Fen, Yang, Chu-Wen, Yang, Wen-Chin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 14.01.2016; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Agricultural biotechnology; Animal Feed; Animals; Asteraceae; Bacteria; Bacterial infections; Bidens; Bidens pilosa; Biodiversity; Biotechnology industry; Birds; Body weight; Body weight gain; Breeding of animals; Care and treatment; Cecum; Chickens; Clostridium; Cluster Analysis; Coccidiosis; Coccidiosis - veterinary; Conversion; Conversion ratio; Diabetes; Diet; Digestive system; Digestive tract; Disease; Eimeria; Feed conversion; Feeds; Food conversion; Food plants; Food safety; Gastrointestinal diseases; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Gastrointestinal tract; Health aspects; Hemorrhage; Infections; Lactobacillus; Medicinal plants; Microbiota; Nutrition research; Parasites; Pathology; Physiological aspects; Poultry; Poultry diseases; Poultry Diseases - parasitology; Probiotics; Protozoa; Public health; rRNA 16S; Systematic review; Veterinary colleges; Veterinary medicine; Villus; Weight Gain; Zoonoses
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0146141

In the interests of food safety and public health, plants and their compounds are now re-emerging as an alternative approach to treat gastrointestinal diseases in chickens. Here, we studied the impact of the edible medicinal plant, B. pilosa, on growth performance, gut bacteria and coccidiosis in chickens. First, we found that B. pilosa significantly elevated body weight gain and lowered feed conversion ratio in chickens. Next, we showed that B. pilosa reduced cecal damage as evidenced by increased hemorrhage, villus destruction and decreased villus-to-crypt ratio in chicken ceca. We also performed pyrosequencing of the PCR ampilcons based on the 16S rRNA genes of gut bacteria in chickens. Metagenomic analysis indicated that the chicken gut bacteria belonged to 6 phyla, 6 classes, 6 orders, 9 families, and 8 genera. More importantly, we found that B. pilosa affected the composition of bacteria. This change in bacteria composition was correlated with body weight gain, feed conversion ratio and gut pathology in chickens. Collectively, this work suggests that B. pilosa has beneficial effects on growth performance and protozoan infection in chickens probably via modulation of gut bacteria.