Sake Lees: A Potential Feed Ingredient to Enhance Intestinal Barrier Function in Indigenous Meat-type Chickens

Food loss and waste (FLW) is a serious problem worldwide. One proposed solution is to divert FLW to livestock feed. From the viewpoint of food mileage, it is increasingly recommended that the distance that food travels between the sites of production and consumption is as short as possible (the consumption of local food products). Sake, a traditional Japanese alcoholic beverage, is produced in various regions of Japan. Sake lees, the leftover paste from sake production, is generated as a byproduct and has gained attention for its high nutritional value and potential as a functional food. Local sake lees was fed to meat-type chickens and its potential as a feed ingredient was evaluated. Experimental diets consisting of 20%, 30%, or 40% sake lees were produced by adding local sake lees to commercial feed. These were then fed to 3-week-old indigenous meat-type chickens for 2 weeks. Growth performance and expression of genes associated with intestinal barrier function were then analyzed. Body weight gain was identical between chickens fed any of the sake lees-supplemented diets and control chickens. Gastrointestinal structure was also not changed by sake lees-supplemented diets. Gene expression levels of claudin-5, cadherin1, occludin, avian beta-defensin 13 (AvBD13), and transforming growth factor-β1, which are related to intestinal barrier function, were higher in the group fed the 20% and 30% sake lees diets compared to those of the control group, but were similar between the group fed the 40% sake lees diet and those of the controls. Expression levels of AvBD1, 2, 5, 6, and 7 were also reduced in animals fed any of the three sake lees-supplemented diets. These results suggested that dietary supplementation with 20%-30% sake lees improved physical intestinal barrier function in indigenous meat-type chickens during short-term feeding.