The effect of diet physical form and whey powder on performance and morphological changes in jejunum of broilers

This experiment was carried out to investigate the effects of physical form of feed (pellets and mash) and different levels of whey powder (0, 4 and 8%) on jejuna morphological changes. In this trial, 240 Ross 308 male broilers assigned at 6 treatments and 4 replications (10 chicks per replicate) in a completely randomized design with a 2 x 3 factorial method. Weight gains, feed intake and feed conversion ratio were measured at the end of each experimental period (10, 24, and 42 days of age). At the 25th and 42th days of experimental periods, 2 chicks near to mean of pen selected and samples of jejunum were collected from small intestine. Data were analyzed by GLM procedure of SAS 9.1 software and means were compared by Tukey at 5% significance. Results revealed that mash and whey diets significantly increased the width and length of villus on the 25th day, (P<0.05). Mash diets contained 4 and 8% whey powder increased villus width and height. Indeed, mash diet increased the depth of jejunum crypt at 42 days (P<0.05). With regard to results of this experiment, pellet diets improved the performance.