{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,9]],"date-time":"2026-06-09T16:38:16Z","timestamp":1781023096813,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,27]],"date-time":"2022-04-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1651017600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study evaluated the effect of Agave tequilana (Weber var. azul) stem powder on the growth performance and the intestinal integrity in rabbits. A total of 120 male rabbits [New Zealand \u00d7 California] were weaned for 35 days and randomized into four dietary treatments, 15 replicates per treatment, and two rabbits per replicate. The treatments consisted of a basal diet (T0) and dietary supplementation with 0.5% (T1), 1.0% (T2) and 1.5% (T3) of Agave tequilana stem powder. The T3 treatment improved the body weight and average daily gain (p &lt; 0.05) compared to the other groups, without affecting viability and feed conversion ratio (p &gt; 0.05). Furthermore, the T3 treatment enhanced (p &lt; 0.05) the thickness of the muscular and mucous layers, and the height, thickness, and number of villi in the duodenum (p &lt; 0.05). However, this treatment (T3) significantly decreased (p &lt; 0.05) values for the area and depth of the crypts in the duodenum and the villus\/crypt ratio. Likewise, in the cecum, T3 treatment provoked a marked decrease (p &lt; 0.05) in the depth and thickness of the crypts. The results indicate that the dietary use with 1.5% of A. tequilana stem powder had a natural growth-promoting effect and enhanced the histomorphometry of the concentric layers (muscle and mucosa), villi, and crypts as indicators of intestinal health in rabbits.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani12091117","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,27]],"date-time":"2022-04-27T13:40:57Z","timestamp":1651066857000},"page":"1117","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Dietary Supplementation with Agave tequilana (Weber Var. Blue) Stem Powder Improves the Performance and Intestinal Integrity of Broiler Rabbits"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2167-4904","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yordan","family":"Mart\u00ednez","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Agricultural Science and Production Department, Zamorano University, Valle de Yeguare, San Antonio de Oriente, Francisco Morazan, P.O. Box 93, Tegucigalpa 11101, Honduras"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Maidelys","family":"Iser","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro Universitario de Ciencias Biol\u00f3gicas y Agropecuarias (CUCBA), Universidad de Guadalajara, P.O. Box 49, Guadalajara 44214, Jalisco, Mexico"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Manuel","family":"Valdivi\u00e9","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Center for Laboratory Animal Production, Santiago de las Vegas, Rancho Boyeros, La Habana P.O. Box 6240, Cuba"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Manuel","family":"Rosales","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro Universitario de Ciencias Biol\u00f3gicas y Agropecuarias (CUCBA), Universidad de Guadalajara, P.O. Box 49, Guadalajara 44214, Jalisco, Mexico"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0030-8630","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Esther","family":"Albarr\u00e1n","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro Universitario de Ciencias Biol\u00f3gicas y Agropecuarias (CUCBA), Universidad de Guadalajara, P.O. Box 49, Guadalajara 44214, Jalisco, Mexico"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"David","family":"S\u00e1nchez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro Universitario de Ciencias Biol\u00f3gicas y Agropecuarias (CUCBA), Universidad de Guadalajara, P.O. Box 49, Guadalajara 44214, Jalisco, Mexico"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"25","DOI":"10.1016\/j.mib.2014.06.001","article-title":"Antibiotic resistance gene discovery in food-producing animals","volume":"19","author":"Allen","year":"2014","journal-title":"Curr. Opin. Microbiol."},{"key":"ref_2","first-page":"183","article-title":"Effect of Tiamulin or Rescue-kit\u00ae on diet utilisation, growth and carcass yield of growing rabbits","volume":"16","author":"Ayed","year":"2008","journal-title":"World Rabbit. 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