Effects of Clostridium butyricum on breast muscle lipid metabolism of broilers

To investigate the effects of Clostridium butyricum (C. butyricum) on breast muscle lipid metabolism of broilers, 192 one-day-old male Arbor Acres broilers were randomly allocated into 2 treatments with 6 replicates in a completely randomised design. The broilers were fed corn-soybean meal-based diets and supplemented with 0 or 1 × 109 cfu of C. butyricum/kg of diet for 42 days. The birds in the C. butyricum-supplemented group showed higher (p < .05) average daily gain during the grower phase and throughout the entire period of the experiment and a lower (p = .047) feed conversion rate during the grower phase. Supplementation with C. butyricum increased (p < .05) the intramuscular fat content, lipoprotein lipase activity and mRNA levels in the breast muscle at 42 days of age, increased (p = .032) the serum insulin level at 21 days of age, and enhanced (p = .020) the caecal Firmicutes relative abundance at 42 days of age. Additionally, supplementation with C. butyricum reduced (p < .05) the serum growth hormone levels at both 21 and 42 days of age, decreased (p < .05) the ileum angiopoietin-like protein 4 (ANGPTL4) mRNA levels and serum ANGPTL4 concentrations at 42 days of age, and decreased (p < .05) the hormone-sensitive lipase activity, carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1, carnitine palmitoyltransferase 2, and long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase mRNA levels in the breast muscle at 42 days of age. In conclusion, dietary supplementation with C. butyricum could potentially target caecal microbiota and reduced the breast muscle fatty acid oxidation of broilers.