Impact of Stored Wheat-based Feed on Gut Morphology, Digesta Viscosity and Blood Metabolites of Broiler Chickens

The aim of current experiment was to evaluate the effect of stored wheat based diet on intestinal morphology, digesta viscosity digesta viscosity and blood metabolites of the broiler chicken birds. For this purpose, 560-day old male broiler chicks were used with 8 replicates per treatment and 10 birds per replicate. Corn-soybean based diet was considered as control diet and the other six dietary treatments were prepared by replacing corn of the corn soybean diet with 50% and 100% replacement of fresh, 1.5 year stored and 2.5 year stored wheat. Results of intestinal morphology explored that villus height and villus surface area were higher (P<0.05) in broilers reared on corn soybean based diet and stored wheat diet as compared to the fresh wheat based diets. Results of plasma metabolites represented that serum cholesterol and urea nitrogen was high in diets contained new wheat as comparison to the other experimental treatments (P>0.05). However, blood glucose was high in birds fed stored wheat based diets and corn soy based diet (P<0.05). Replacement of corn with fresh wheat 50% and 100% in the diet of broiler significantly enhanced digesta viscosity (P<0.05). Based on results, it is concluded that stored wheat successfully replace corn and new wheat in the diet of broilers and have positive impact on digesta viscosity, intestinal morphology and blood metabolites. Therefore, it is recommended that corn of corn soybean diet should be replaced with stored wheat when stored wheat is available at lower price.