Effect of a Phenolic compounds-rich feedstuff on expression of amylase and β-Actin genes in liver and pancreas tissues of broilers

This study was conducted to determine the amylase gene expression in liver and pancreas tissues of broiler chicks fed with two levels of oak acorn(OA) fruit. A total of 264 broiler chicks were fed a control diet (without oak) and diets containing 15 and 20% OA. At the end of starter and finisher period, 6 birds from each treatment were randomly selected and Tissue samples were taken from their pancreas and liver. REST and SAS software were used to analyze gene expression. The 2004 Bestkeeper software was also used to determine the sustainability of β-Actin gene expression. Results showed that β-Actin gene was not affected by sex, age and experimental treatments. Thus, it was used to normalize the gene expression data. At 21d of age, the level of mRNA of the pancreatic amylase gene was significantly higher in broilers fed with 15% OA compared to the control group (p<0.05). On d 42, significant differences in expression of liver and pancreas amylase gene were not observed (p>0.05). Also, feeding birds with diet containing 20% OA increased the relative weight of pancreas (p<0.05). In conclusion, the results showed that amylase gene expression in birds fed diets containing 15% OA significantly increased at 21d of age. In other cases, genes expression was not influenced by experimental treatments.