The present study was conducted to evaluate the dietary effects of a marine red seaweed, Palmaria palmata, on the growth performance, blood profile, nutrient digestibility, meat quality, fecal gas emission, microbial population, and intestinal morphology of broilers. A total of 720 Ross 308 broiler chicks (1 day old), with an average body weight of 45 ± 0.50 g, were assigned to one of five dietary treatments (randomized complete block design) in a 42-day feeding trial. The five dietary treatments consisted of a basal diet (0% supplementation; control), and diets supplemented with 0.05%, 0.01%, 0.15%, or 0.25% red seaweed. Eight replicates were prepared per treatment, with each replicate consisting of 18 chicks in a cage. The results showed that there tended to be a greater increase in body weight in the seaweed-supplemented groups from day (d) 14 to 28 (p = 0.087) and d 28 to 42 (p = 0.082) compared to the control group, regardless of feed intake. Feed intake in the seaweed-supplemented groups increased linearly from d 14 to 28. A linear relationship between seaweed supplementation and the feed conversion ratio was observed from d 14 to 28 and throughout the whole experiment. The dietary inclusion of seaweed was linearly related to levels of albumin, creatinine, uric acid, and white blood cells in the broilers. Additionally, the total tract digestibility of dry matter increased linearly with an increase in seaweed supplementation. The dietary inclusion of seaweed had a beneficial effect on fecal microbes as Lactobacillus sp. counts increased and Escherichia coli and Salmonella sp. counts decreased on day 42. Histopathological examination of the intestine confirmed that seaweed dietary supplementation enhanced the heights and widths of the villi. Furthermore, the emission of fecal gases (NH₃ and H₂S) decreased linearly in broilers fed seaweed-supplemented diets. Dietary supplementation with seaweed led to improvements in meat quality traits, such as reductions in drip loss, water holding capacity, and cooking loss, as well as increases in relative organ weights. Based on these positive effects, dietary supplementation with seaweed in broilers can be considered a dietary option in poultry production.

Journal of Animal Science and Technology (JAST) is a peer-reviewed, open access journal publishing original research, review articles and notes in all fields of animal science. Topics covered by the journal include: genetics and breeding, physiology, nutrition of monogastric animals, nutrition of ruminants, animal products (milk, meat, eggs and their by-products) and their processing, grasslands and roughages, livestock environment, animal biotechnology, animal behavior and welfare.

Journal of Animal Science and Technology (JAST) is a peer-reviewed, open access journal publishing original research, review articles and notes in all fields of animal science. Topics covered by the journal include: genetics and breeding, physiology, nutrition of monogastric animals, nutrition of ruminants, animal products (milk, meat, eggs and their by-products) and their processing, grasslands and roughages, livestock environment, animal biotechnology, animal behavior and welfare.

This study was conducted in two stages to investigate the potential of multi-enzyme supplementation on the nutrient digestibility, growth performance, and gut microbial composition of pigs. In stage 1, effects of multi-enzyme complex (xylanase, α-amylase, β-glucanase, and protease) supplementation on the ileal and total tract dry matter (DM) digestibility of feed-stuffs were investigated with in vitro two-stage and three-stage enzyme incubation methods. A wide range of feed ingredients, namely, corn meal, wheat meal, soybean meal, fish meal, Oriental herbal extract, Italian rye-grass (IRG) and peanut hull were used as substrates. Supplementation of the multi-enzyme complex increased (P < 0.05) the digestibility of the Oriental herbal extract and corn meal. In stage 2, in vivo animal studies were performed to further investigate the effects of the dietary multi-enzyme complex on the nutrient utilization, growth performance, and fecal microbial composition of pigs. A total of 36 weaned pigs were fed corn- and soybean meal-based diets without (control) and with the multi-enzyme complex (treatment) for 6 weeks. Fecal samples were collected from 12 pigs to analyze the microbial communities by using DNA sequencing and bioinformatics tools. Multi-enzyme supplementation had no effect on apparent digestibility of nutrients and growth performance of pigs compared to control. Taxonomic analysis of the fecal samples indicated that the bacteria in both control and treatment samples predominantly belonged to Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes. In addition, the proportion of the phylum Firmicutes was slightly higher in the treatment group. At the genus level, the abundance of Treponema and Barnesiella increased in the treatment group; whereas the numbers ofthe genera including Prevotella, Butyricicoccus, Ruminococcus and Succinivibrio decreased in the treatment group. These results suggest that multi-enzyme supplementation with basal diets have the potential to improve nutrient digestibility and modify microbial communities in the hind-gut of pigs.