To illustrate the effects of chitosan oligosaccharide (COS) supplementation on abdominal fat deposition (AFD), lipid metabolism, cecal microbiota composition, and short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) content in the ceca of broilers. Totally, 144 one-day-old male Arbor Acres broilers were randomly allocated into two groups with six replicates and 12 broilers per replicate. The control group (CON) was fed the basal diet; the treatment group was fed the basal diet with 200-mg/kg COS (COS200). COS supplementation led to a reduction (p < 0.05) in AFD, serum triglyceride, hepatic high-density lipoprotein cholesterol content, hepatic fatty acid synthase, acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase gene expression level, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ gene expression level in abdominal fat (AF). Furthermore, COS supplementation resulted in higher (p < 0.05) relative abundance of cecal Bacteroidetes and Alistipes but lower (p < 0.05) relative abundance of Desulfobacterota, Patescibacteria, Campilobacterota, Deferribacterota, Shuttleworthia, and Erysipelatoclostridium, accompanied by increasing acetic acid, propionic acid, isobutyric acid, caproic acid, and total acid content. The AF weight inversely (p < 0.05) correlated with the relative abundance of Bacteroidota and isobutyric acid content. Overall, COS supplementation reduced AF deposition by inhibiting hepatic fatty acid synthesis, abdominal adipocyte differentiation, and proliferation-related gene expression, which was associated with the changes in cecal microbiota composition and SCFA content.
Lan et al. (Fri,) studied this question.