{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,27]],"date-time":"2026-02-27T07:29:07Z","timestamp":1772177347322,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,25]],"date-time":"2026-02-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1771977600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["32202707"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["32202707"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004479","name":"Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["20242BAB20306"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["20242BAB20306"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004479","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004479","name":"Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["20252BAC240656"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["20252BAC240656"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004479","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002858","name":"China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Project","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["2023M731435"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2023M731435"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002858","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of combinations of different dietary fiber sources (inulin and cellulose) on broilers from 1 to 42 d of age. A total of 560 Arbor Acres male broilers were randomly divided into seven dietary treatments with eight replicates per treatment and 10 broilers per replicate. A con-soybean control (CON) diet, CON diet supplemented with antibiotics (zinc bacitracin, 50 mg\/kg, AB diet), CON diet diluted with 2% of inulin (LNU), CON diet diluted with 1.5% of inulin and 0.5% of cellulose (MIX1), CON diet diluted with 1.0% of inulin and 1.0% of cellulose (MIX2), CON diet diluted with 0.5% of inulin and 1.5% of cellulose (MIX3), and CON diet diluted with 2.0% of cellulose (CEL). Results demonstrated body weight (BW) (d42) and average daily gain (ADG) (d1 to 21, d22 to 42, d1 to 42) were significantly increased (p &lt; 0.05), and the feed-to-gain ratio (F\/G) (d1 to 21, d22 to 42, d1 to 42) was markedly decreased (p &lt; 0.01) in the MIX1 group than those in the other treatments. Compared to broilers fed CON, AB, or other diets, broilers fed with the MIX1 diet had markedly improved (p &lt; 0.05) nutrients utilization, lactase and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities, and mRNA expression levels of jejunal function-related genes (SGLT1, GLUT2, PepT1, GLP-2, and ZO-1), while significantly decreased (p &lt; 0.05) intestinal pH, TNF-\u03b1 content and IL-6 mRNA level in jejunum at 21 or 42 days of age. Collectively, dietary fiber was included in broiler diets at a total level of 2%, and the MIX1 combination (combining 1.5% of inulin and 0.5% of cellulose) promoted growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and intestinal function, and this diet may be a potential alternative to antibiotics.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani16050713","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,25]],"date-time":"2026-02-25T10:59:16Z","timestamp":1772017156000},"page":"713","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The Combination of Different Dietary Fiber Sources Improves the Growth Performance, Nutrient Digestibility and Intestinal Function in Broilers from 1 to 42 d of Age"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Feixue","family":"Hou","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Jiangxi Province Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed, College of Animal Science and Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China"},{"name":"Jiangxi Province Key Innovation Center of Integration in Production and Education for High-Quality and Safe Livestock and Poultry, Nanchang 330045, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Lei","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jiangxi Province Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed, College of Animal Science and Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China"},{"name":"Jiangxi Province Key Innovation Center of Integration in Production and Education for High-Quality and Safe Livestock and Poultry, Nanchang 330045, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jin","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jiangxi Province Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed, College of Animal Science and Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China"},{"name":"Jiangxi Province Key Innovation Center of Integration in Production and Education for High-Quality and Safe Livestock and Poultry, Nanchang 330045, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Qiufen","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jiangxi Province Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed, College of Animal Science and Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China"},{"name":"Jiangxi Province Key Innovation Center of Integration in Production and Education for High-Quality and Safe Livestock and Poultry, Nanchang 330045, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Hua","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jiangxi Province Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed, College of Animal Science and Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China"},{"name":"Jiangxi Province Key Innovation Center of Integration in Production and Education for High-Quality and Safe Livestock and Poultry, Nanchang 330045, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3589-9023","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Guanhong","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jiangxi Province Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feed, College of Animal Science and Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China"},{"name":"Jiangxi Province Key Innovation Center of Integration in Production and Education for High-Quality and Safe Livestock and Poultry, Nanchang 330045, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"101397","DOI":"10.1016\/j.psj.2021.101397","article-title":"Effects of fiber type, particle size, and inclusion level on the growth performance, digestive organ growth, intestinal morphology, intestinal viscosity, and gene expression of broilers","volume":"100","author":"Tejeda","year":"2021","journal-title":"Poult. 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