Essay Example on The small intestine is a vital organ involved in absorption of Nutrients

 The reduction in intestinal weight was due to thinning of intestinal wall Gunal et al 2006 which increased nutrients digestion and absorption as well In the present study the reduction in small intestine weight observed in birds supplemented with PAB at 400 g ton may be associated with a reduction in muscularis layer thickness Accumulation of lymphocytes during infection to kill the pathogens cause inflammation which in turn increases muscular layer thickness and increase the nutrient demand by the gut associated lymphoid tissues Supplementation of phytogenic feed additive containing Andrographis paniculata Emblica officinalis and Punica granatum was previously known to reduce the level of acute phase protein α 1 acid glycoprotein a marker for gut inflammation Feed X ref which is suggestive of an anti inflammatory effect of the phytogenic additives and possibly caused significant reduction in density of jejunum by suppressing the intestinal inflammation in the present study 

Furthermore it is sensible to investigate the microscopic structure of intestinal tract in response to the supplementation of PAB since microvilli plays a pivotal role in absorptive functions Generally shortened villi decreases the surface area for absorption of available nutrients while increased crypt depth indicates fast tissue turnover in response to cellular sloughing or inflammation and can lead to lower the overall performance parameters in birds Conversely long villi are usually associated with better absorptive functions of the intestine as a result of increased absorptive surface area expression of brush border enzymes nutrient transport systems Caspary 1992 resulted in healthier intestinal tract of chickens Alfaro et al 2007 and an increased body weight gain Zijlstra et al 1996 In the present investigation supplementation of PAB at 400 g ton significantly increased the villi height villi surface area and villi height crypt depth ratio in the ileum Hence supplementation of PAB improved the body weight gain and feed conversion efficiency possibly by enhanced absorption of dietary nutrients and reduced tissue turnover that might leave the energy conserved for lean muscle synthesis Besides nutrients absorption the intestine is believed to have barrier functions which usually protect the gut from external insults The epithelial surface of the intestinal tract is covered by a layer of mucus predominantly of mucin glycoproteins that are synthesized and secreted by goblet cells Smirnov et al 2004 This layer can act as a barrier between the luminal contents and the absorptive system of the intestine and protects the epithelial surface from invasion of enteric bacteria bacterial and environmental toxins Forstner and Forstner 1994