Protective effect of sheep bile acids on ducklings infected with avian pathogenic Escherichiacoli

Escherichia coli (E. coli) infection is a prevalent bacterial infection in the Chinese poultry industry, causing significant negative impacts and losses. Bile acids (BAs), essential components of bile, play a pivotal role in maintaining intestinal health, regulating barrier function, mitigating stress in animals, as well as anti-infection function. At present, the research and application of BAs mainly focus on pig BAs, but there are few studies on sheep BAs. Especially, limited research has been conducted on the protective effects of sheep BAs against pathogenic E. coli infection. This study aims to investigate the protective effects of supplementing ducklings' diet with sheep BAs against E. coli infection by establishing an experimental infection model and conducting zoological, molecular biology, and serological experiments. The study demonstrated that supplementation of ducklings' diets with 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg sheep BAs resulted in increased average daily weight gain, improved feed conversion ratio, enhanced antioxidant capacity against E. coli infections, reduced intestinal inflammatory response, improved jejunum structure, enhanced intestinal barrier function, and enriched intestinal microflora. Notably, the effectiveness of 400 mg/kg sheep BAs was superior to that of 200 mg/kg in protecting ducklings from E. coli infection. These findings provide support for the utilization of sheep BAs as a beneficial feed additive to enhance poultry performance and resistance against E. coli infection.