{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,20]],"date-time":"2026-03-20T08:37:53Z","timestamp":1773995873472,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,20]],"date-time":"2026-03-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1773964800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Physiol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    The physiological and microbiome-modulating benefits of dietary forage in monogastrics are impeded by recalcitrant fiber and anti-nutritional factors. However, fermentation and appropriate inclusion levels may overcome these limitations. This study evaluated the effects of two fermented cultivars of elephant grass (\n                    <jats:italic>Cenchrus purpureus<\/jats:italic>\n                    cv. Guiminyin and cv. Purple) incorporated into broiler diets at different inclusion levels, with emphasis on cultivar-specific responses, growth performance, physiological status, and gut microbial composition. A total of 240 male (30-days old) Jinling earth-neck chickens were housed in four replicate pens of 12 birds each, and randomly assigned to five dietary treatments (48 birds per treatment): a control diet with no inclusion (0%), CpGui5 (5% Guiminyin inclusion), CpGui10 (10% Guiminyin inclusion), CpPur5 (5% Purple inclusion), and CpPur10 (10% Purple inclusion). CpGui5 and Control diets had statistically similar and higher final weight, total weight gain, average daily gain and feed efficiency which were higher than the other treatments (\n                    <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                    &amp;lt; 0.05)\n                    <jats:italic>.<\/jats:italic>\n                    On the other hand, Control, CpGui5 and CpPur5 had higher daily feed intake compared to CpGui10 and CpPur10 which had the lower daily feed intake (\n                    <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                    &amp;lt; 0.05). Slaughter performance revealed significant differences (\n                    <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                    &amp;lt; 0.05), with the control, CpGui5, CpPur5 and CpPur10 groups maintaining higher live weight, dressed weight, half-bore, and breast muscle rate while CpGui10 recorded the lowest values. Blood biochemical indices, including total protein, albumin, liver enzymes, and renal function markers, were unaffected by dietary treatments (\n                    <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                    &amp;gt; 0.05), indicating no adverse physiological effects. Gut microbiome analysis showed stable richness (Chao1, ACE) across treatments, while diversity (Shannon, Simpson) was reduced in CpPur5 relative to other groups (\n                    <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                    &amp;lt; 0.05). A shared core microbiome of 202 OTUs was detected across all treatments, alongside treatment-specific enrichment of taxa. LEfSe (Linear Discriminant Analysis Effect Size) analysis identified treatment-specific enrichment of functionally relevant bacterial genera, including\n                    <jats:italic>Megamonas<\/jats:italic>\n                    in CpGui5 and\n                    <jats:italic>Ruminococcaceae_UCG-014<\/jats:italic>\n                    and unclassified\n                    <jats:italic>Lachnospiraceae<\/jats:italic>\n                    at higher inclusion levels (CpGui10). Overall, moderate inclusion of fermented elephant grass, especially CpGui5 supports broiler performance while maintaining physiological health and gut microbial stability, highlighting its potential as a sustainable functional feed resource for poultry production.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fphys.2026.1767570","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,20]],"date-time":"2026-03-20T05:23:37Z","timestamp":1773984217000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Inclusion of different levels of fermented elephant grass in broiler chicken diet: effects on growth, physiology, carcass traits and gut microbial community"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Samaila","family":"Usman","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University","place":["Lanzhou, China"]},{"name":"School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University","place":["Lanzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Qi","family":"Yan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University","place":["Lanzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Lijuan","family":"Gao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University","place":["Lanzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Suyuan","family":"Deng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangxi Vocational University of Agriculture","place":["Nanning, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Liyan","family":"Lu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University","place":["Lanzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Tiande","family":"Pang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangxi Vocational University of Agriculture","place":["Nanning, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Dawei","family":"Lai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangxi Vocational University of Agriculture","place":["Nanning, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Chris S.","family":"Jones","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Feed and Forage Development, International Livestock Research Institute","place":["Nairobi, Kenya"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xianfeng","family":"Yi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangxi Vocational University of Agriculture","place":["Nanning, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jiyu","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University","place":["Lanzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"627","DOI":"10.3390\/d5030627","article-title":"Untangling the genetic basis of fibrolytic specialization by Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae in diverse gut communities","volume":"5","author":"Biddle","year":"2013","journal-title":"Diversity"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"13799","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-021-93301-w","article-title":"Nutritional quality, nutrient uptake and biomass production of Pennisetum purpureum cv. 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