Effects Of Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae On Growth Performance And Microflora In Ileum And Caecum Of Broilers And Investigation Of Its Mechanism

China came up to the third place in the world in terms of orange production. Every year a large quantity of Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae, i.e. orange peel, is produced, a little of which is used as feed and traditional Chinese medicine and most of which is thrown away or buried. As a result of this, feed resources are wasted and the environment is polluted. Therefore, the focus of our research was on the application of Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae in animal husbandry and its mechanism. The effects of Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae on growth performance and microflora in ileum and caecum of broilers were studied by an animal experiment. Based on results in the animal experiment, a more research about the effect of hesperidin on intestinal bacteria and degradation of hesperidin by intestinal bacteria was conducted. This thesis was described in the following four sections.1 Effects of Pericarpium Citri reticulatae on growth performance of broilersThis experiment was conducted to study the effects of Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae on growth performance of broilers. 450 broilers were randomly allocated into five groups. Control 1 and 2 were fed basal diets without or with antibiotics; treatment A, B and C were fed basal diets, supplementing with Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae at levels of 0.1%, 0.2% or 0.4% respectively. The results showed that from 1 to 20 days of age, daily gain of treatment A was significantly lower than that of other groups (P<0.05) and treatment B had the highest daily gain which increased by 2.08% and 0.23% compared with control 1 and control 2 respectively but had no significant difference with two controls and treatment C (P>0.05); the ratio of feed to weight gain (F/G) of treatment A was significantly higher than that of other groups (P<0.05) and treatment B had the lowest F/G which decreased by 2.06% and 0.22% compared with control 1 and control 2 respectively. From 21 to 42 days of age and during the whole experimental period, no significant difference in daily gain and F/G could be detected among different groups (P>0.05). The results indicated that Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae could improve growth performance when broilers were at the age of 1 to 20 days.2 Effects of Pericarpium Citri reticulatae on microflora in ileum and caecum of broilers This experiment was conducted to study the effects of Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae on growth of lactobacilli and Escherichia coli (E. coli) in ileum and caecum of broilers. 450 broilers were randomly allocated into five groups. Control 1 and 2 were fed basal diets without or with antibiotics; treatment A, B and C were fed basal diets, supplementing with Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae at levels of 0.1%, 0.2% or 0.4% respectively. The results showed that at the age of 20 days, the number of caecal lactobacilli of treatments added Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae was larger than that of control 2 (P<0.05). At the same age, the ratio of lactobacilli to E. coli in ileum and caecum of treatment A, B and C was higher than that of two controls, and the ratio of treatment C was significant higher than that of control 2 (P<0.05). The results indicated that Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae could stimulate the number of caecal lactobacilli and enhance the ratio of lactobacilli to E. coli in ileum and caecum of broilers when they were at the age of 20 days.3 Effects of hesperidin on the in vitro fermentation of ileal lactobacilli and caecal microflora of broilersEffects of hesperidin at different doses (200μg/ml, 400μg/ml and 800μg/ml) on ileal lactobacilli or caecal microflora of broilers were investigated by in vitro culture. The results showed that hesperidin at different doses had no significant difference on the pH value, lactobacilli counts and lactic acid concentration of ileal lactobacilli fermentation (P>0.05); hesperidin at different dose had no significant difference on the pH value and VFA production of caecal microflora fermentation (P>0.05). The results indicated that hesperidin had no effects on ileal lactobacilli or caecal microflora of broilers.4 Investigation about degradation of hesperidin by microflora in ileum and caecum of broilersA HPLC method for the quantification of hesperidin in fermentation broth was established, and then an investigation about degradation of hesperidin by microflora in ileum and caecum of broilers was conducted. The results indicated that it was hard for ileal bacteria to degrade hesperidin, but easy for caecal bacteria to degrade it into hesperetin. It was indicated that there existed bacteria in broilers' caecum which could degrade hesperidin into hesperetin.