~ 67 ~ Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies 2018; 6(4): 67-71 E-ISSN: 2320-7078 P-ISSN: 2349-6800 JEZS 2018; 6(4): 67-71 © 2018 JEZS Received: 17-05-2018 Accepted: 21-06-2018 Om Prakash Dinani ICAR-Central Avian Research Institute Izatnagar, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India Pramod K Tyagi ICAR-Central Avian Research Institute Izatnagar, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India Nasir Akbar Mir ICAR-Central Avian Research Institute Izatnagar, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India AB Mandal ICAR-Central Avian Research Institute Izatnagar, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India Praveen K Tyagi ICAR-Central Avian Research Institute Izatnagar, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India Sita Prasad Tiwari College of Veterinary Science and A.H. Anjora, Durg, Chhattisgarh, India Correspondence Om Prakash Dinani ICAR-Central Avian Research Institute Izatnagar, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India Effect of feeding rice distillers dried grains with solubles (rDDGS) and rice gluten meal (RGM) based diet on the gut health of broiler chicken Om Prakash Dinani, Pramod K Tyagi, Nasir Akbar Mir, AB Mandal, Praveen K Tyagi and Sita Prasad Tiwari Abstract A biological experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of feeding rice distillers dried grains with solubles (rDDGS) and rice gluten meal (RGM) combination as a replacement of soybean along with exogenous enzyme supplementation on the intestinal morphometry and microbiology of broiler chicken at 21 days of age. Following a 2x3 factorial design, the experimental diets were: T1 (no rDDGS/RGM/enzyme), T2 (no rDDGS/RGM, with multienzymes), T3 (12.5% rDDGS, 15% RGM, no enzyme), T4 (12.5% rDDGS, 15% RGM, with protease enzyme), T5 (10% rDDGS, 12.5% RGM, no enzyme), and T6 (10% rDDGS, 12.5% RGM, with protease enzyme). Each treatment was allocated 5 replicates of broiler chicken with 8 birds in each. The feeding of the dietary combination of 12.5% rDDGS and 15% RGM significantly (P<0.05) decreased the villus height (VH), crypt depth (CD), VH: CD ratio and villus width compared to the control and other rDDGS & RGM combination. The microbiological parameters revealed that TVC in crop and jejunum were increased significantly (P<0.01) in 12.5% rDDGS & 15% RGM as compared to control and other dietary combination. Lactobacillus count in crop was decreased significantly (P<0.05) in12.5% rDDGS & 15% RGM as compared control. It was concluded that the simultaneous inclusion of rDDGS and RGM in broiler chicken ration with or without enzyme supplementation had adverse effects on the intestinal histomorphometry and microbiology. Keywords: Rice distillers dried grains with solubles (rDDGS), rice gluten meal (RGM), broiler chicken, intestinal morphometry, microbiology Introduction Feed is the major constituent in the poultry production which accounts for 65-75% of total recurring expenditure. Therefore, efforts are being made to reduce the cost of production by employing alternative feed ingredients in the broiler chicken ration. India is one of the largest producers of rice in world producing approximately 105 million tons of rice in 2015-16 [6] . The rice processing industries provides us a variety of by products, particularly rice distillers dried grains with solubles (rDDGS) and rice gluten meal (RGM) which potential economic feed ingredients to be used in poultry ration. This rising cost of production in broiler chicken production can be overcome by the use of ‘rice DDGS and rice gluten meal’, protein rich alternative feed ingredients. The rDDGS is an excellent low cost alternative feed ingredient that continues to be produced in large quantities by the dry-grind fuel ethanol industry. An increase in ethanol production over the last 5-10 years, due to increasing prices of conventional oil and limited underground reserves, has led to an increased supply of DDGS that is available as livestock feed [14] . However, the lower amount of available lysine in DDGS, which occurs due to drying process while DDGS production, can hamper the growth and efficiency of broiler chicken. On the other hand, the RGM, a by-product of wet-milling of rice, is available in appreciable amounts at the lower cost compared to soybean. RGM contains 3152 kcal ME/kg, 46.45% crude protein, 3.4% ether extract and a favorable amino acid profile with a relatively higher abundance of methionine [11] . It has been also designated as a source of rumen undegradable protein with the highest known metabolizable protein value among plant proteins [9] . Further, the exogenous enzyme supplementations in poultry diets, nutritionally, economically and environmentally justified, increase nutrient digestibility, reduce water content and viscosity of the excreta, and accelerate the rate of passage of digesta through the gastrointestinal tract [12, 15] .