Histological alterations of the intestinal villi and epithelial cells in chickens fed dietary sugar cane extract

1. Sugar cane extract (SCE) is the residue after removing glucose, fructose and sucrose from sugar cane juice. To investigate the effects of dietary SCE on growth performance and alterations to intestinal histology, 36 male Sanuki Cochin chickens were divided into three groups: a control group was fed a commercial diet (180 g/kg CP, 13.59 MJ/kg ME) and the treatment groups were fed the commercial diet supplemented with 0.5 or 10 g/kg SCE ad libitum for 35 d. 2. Feed intake and weight gain tended to be higher in the 0.5 and 10 g/kg SCE groups than in the control group. No specific gross morphological alterations were observed in the visceral organs of chickens in any of the groups. However, intestinal villus height, villus area, epithelial cell area and cell mitosis in each intestinal segment had higher values in the SCE groups than in the control group. In the 0.5 and 10 g/kg SCE groups, but not in the control group, the cells on the villus apical surface protuberated and had larger cell clusters and some areas with cells with no microvilli. 3. The observed alterations to intestinal histology in chickens fed dietary SCE diets demonstrate that the function of villi and cells on the villus tip might be activated in all the intestinal segments and that cell turnover is also accelerated. These activated intestinal functions appear to promote growth and immuno-stimulation in chickens fed SCE diets, especially in the 0.5 g/kg group.