LAUSR

This study investigated the effects of dietary Arginine (Arg) on performance, intestinal antioxidant capacity, immunity, and gut microbiota in Chinese yellow-feathered chickens. One thousand and two hundred 1-day-old female Qingyuan partridge chickens were randomly assigned to 5 groups with 6 replicates of 40 birds each. Chickens were fed diets with 5 total Arg levels (8.5, 9.7, 10.9, 12.1 and 13.3 g/kg) without antibiotics for 30 D. Average daily feed intake, average daily gain, and feed conversion ratio were improved with dietary Arg levels (P < 0.05). Dietary Arg level had a linear (P < 0.05) or quadratic (P < 0.05) effect on the gene expression of glutathione peroxidase 1, hame oxygenase 1, nuclear factor erythroid 2, linearly and quadraticly increased activities of GSH-Px and total antioxidant capacity in the jejunum and ileum. In addition, relative expression of interleukin-1β and toll-like receptor 4 decreased linearly (P < 0.05) and quadratically (P < 0.05) in the ileum with increasing dietary Arg levels; secretory immunoglobulin A contents were increased. In addition, sequencing data of 16S rRNA indicated that dietary Arg increased the abundances of Firmicutes phylum, Romboutsia and Candidatus Arthromitus genus, while decreased that of Clostridium sensu stricto 1. A diet containing 12.1 g Arg/kg could promote growth performance, intestinal antioxidation, innate immunity and modulate gut microbiota in yellow feathered chickens.