{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,3]],"date-time":"2026-09-03T10:16:29Z","timestamp":1788430589751,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"17","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,3]],"date-time":"2026-09-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788393600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Major Science and Technology Special Program of Henan Province","award":["251100110400"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["251100110400"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study aims to evaluate the feasibility of substituting soybean meal with single-cell protein derived from Ralstonia eutropha H16 (SCP-H16) in broiler diets, with a specific emphasis on its impact on growth performance, meat quality, biochemical parameters, antioxidant capacity, and intestinal health. A total of 540 one-day-old Arbor Acres (AA) male broiler chicks were randomly allocated to five treatment groups, each comprising six replicates of 18 chicks. The control group (CON) was provided with a corn-soybean meal basal diet, whereas the experimental groups received the basal diet supplemented with 2%, 4%, 6%, and 8% SCP-H16, respectively, replacing soybean meal on an isonitrogenous basis. Specifically, dietary inclusion of 2%, 4%, 6%, and 8% SCP-H16 replaced approximately 9%, 18%, 27%, and 36% of the soybean meal in the starter diet and 10%, 21%, 31%, and 41% in the grower diet, respectively. The feeding period lasted 42 days. The findings demonstrated that dietary supplementation with SCP-H16 significantly reduced the average daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio of broilers (p &lt; 0.05), without adversely affecting the final body weight and breast meat quality at 42 d. Compared to the CON group, the groups receiving 2% and 4% SCP-H16 exhibited significantly lower serum level of total cholesterol (T-CHO) (p &lt; 0.05). Moreover, the serum activity of total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) was significantly enhanced in the 2%, 4%, and 6% SCP-H16 groups, and the total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) was significantly increased in the 2% and 4% SCP-H16 groups (p &lt; 0.05), relative to the CON group. In the liver, glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity was significantly elevated in the 2% SCP-H16 group compared to the CON group (p &lt; 0.05). Additionally, serum levels of IgG and IgM were significantly elevated in the 2%, 4%, and 6% SCP-H16 groups, while serum IgA level was increased across all SCP-H16-containing groups (p &lt; 0.05). In the liver, both IgG and IgA levels were significantly elevated across all groups receiving SCP-H16 supplementation (p &lt; 0.05). In the duodenum, the 2% SCP-H16 group exhibited a significantly greater villus height compared to the CON group (p &lt; 0.05). Furthermore, in both the duodenum and ileum, the groups receiving 2% and 4% SCP-H16 demonstrated a significant reduction in crypt depth and an increased villus height-to-crypt depth ratio relative to the CON group (p &lt; 0.05). The 2% SCP-H16 group also showed significantly elevated mRNA expression levels of Occludin and zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) in the duodenum compared to the CON group (p &lt; 0.05). In the ileum, the 2% and 4% SCP-H16 groups exhibited significantly increased Occludin mRNA expression relative to the CON group (p &lt; 0.05), with the 2% SCP-H16 group also showing a significant increase in zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) mRNA expression (p &lt; 0.05). In conclusion, dietary supplementation with 2% to 4% SCP-H16 is associated with enhanced antioxidant capacity, elevated humoral immunity, and improved intestinal morphology and barrier-related gene expression, suggesting that SCP-H16 can serve as a promising alternative protein source to soybean meal.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani16172769","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,3]],"date-time":"2026-09-03T09:20:43Z","timestamp":1788427243000},"page":"2769","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Effects of Single-Cell Protein Derived from Ralstonia eutropha on Growth Performance, Meat Quality, Antioxidant Capacity, and Intestinal Health in Broilers"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Xiaoyao","family":"Duan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Animal Science and Technology, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"project-administration","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Minglu","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Animal Science and Technology, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"project-administration","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Zhiyong","family":"Rao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Animal Science and Technology, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"formal-analysis","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3851-3509","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Wei","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Animal Science and Technology, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"visualization","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Zhixiang","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Animal Science and Technology, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Yongpeng","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Animal Science and Technology, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,3]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"27606","DOI":"10.3402\/fnr.v59.27606","article-title":"Role of poultry meat in a balanced diet aimed at maintaining health and wellbeing: An Italian consensus document","volume":"59","author":"Marangoni","year":"2015","journal-title":"Food Nutr. 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