Effects of alfalfa meal on the intestinal microbial diversity and immunity of growing ducks

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of alfalfa meal diets on the intestinal microbial diversity and immunity of growing egg‐type ducks. A total of 128 healthy 7‐week‐old female egg‐type Shaoxing ducks were selected and randomly assigned into four dietary treatments: 0%, 3%, 6% and 9% alfalfa meal for 8 weeks. Each treatment consisted of four replicates of eight ducks each. Polymerase chain reaction denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR‐DGGE) was used to characterize the microbiota. The results showed that the DGGE fingerprints of the V6–V8 fragments of the 16S rRNA from the caeca and faeces of ducks fed 3%, 6% and 9% alfalfa meal had significantly higher microbiota species richness than those fed 0% alfalfa meal (p < 0.05). The Shannon–Weiner index of the microbiota from the caeca and faeces of ducks fed 3%, 6% and 9% alfalfa meal was significantly higher than those fed 0% alfalfa meal (p < 0.05). Molecular analysis of the caecal and faecal DNA extracts showed that the alfalfa meal diet promotes the intestinal microbial diversity, as indicated by their higher species richness and Shannon–Weiner index. However, the groups did not significantly differ in terms of average daily gain, feed intake and gain‐to‐feed ratio (p > 0.05), and the 3–9% alfalfa meal did not affect the growth performance of the growing egg‐type ducks. The proliferation of T and B lymphocytes was significantly greater (p < 0.05) in the groups supplemented with 3%, 6% and 9% of alfalfa meal than the unsupplemented control group, and alfalfa meal promoted the lymphocytes proliferation of the growing egg‐type ducks. Dietary alfalfa meal supplementation increases intestinal microbial community diversity and improves of the immune response growing egg‐type ducks.