Influence of Plum (Prunus Mume Siebold and Zucc.) Products on Growth Performance, Intestinal Function and Immunity in Broiler Chicks

The present study was designed to evaluate whether plum (Prunus mume Siebold and Zucc., PM) products affect growth performance, digestive enzymes, enteric microflora and inflammatory cytokines in growing broiler chicks. A total of one hundred twenty eight, 3-d-old broiler chicks were assigned to a basal diet (CON) and a basal diet supplemented with antibiotics (ANT), freeze-dried Prunus mume powder (PMP, 0.25%) and Prunus mume extract (PME, 0.125%) until 35 days of age. Throughout the entire feeding period (3-35 days), there were no differences in body weight, feed intake, total gain and feed to gain ratio among the birds fed the basal diet and those fed the diet supplemented with antibiotics, either PM powder or extract. The specific activities of pancreatic α-amylase and trypsin significantly increased (P<0.05) in birds fed the PME diet compared with those fed the CON and ANT diets. However, the specific activities of intestinal hydrolases such as maltase, sucrase and leucine aminopeptidase were not affected by the dietary groups. The colony forming units (CFU) of E. coli in the digesta of ileo-cecum in the PMP and PME groups were similar to those in the ANT group. The CFU of lactobacilli in the PMP and PME groups was significantly greater (P<0.05) than that in the ANT group, although there was no difference between the PMP and PME groups. The mRNA expression of splenic IL-1β and IL-6, pro-inflammatory cytokines, was significantly higher (P<0.05) in the PME group than in the CON group without affecting thymic cytokines. In summary, the dietary PM extract showed beneficial effects on pancreatic digestive enzymes, enteric microflora population and inflammatory cytokine mRNA expression, suggesting that PM extract might be a potential candidate as an alternative to antibiotics in birds.