Moutai distiller’s grains as an alternative ingredient to corn and soybean meal in broiler diets

This study investigated the potential of Moutai dried distiller’s grains (MDDG) and Fermented Moutai distiller’s grains (FMDG) as alternative ingredients to corn and soybean meal in broiler chickens. A total of 336 Cobb-500 male broiler chicks at 1 d of age were randomly assigned to 7 dietary treatments: control diet, 3 inclusion levels of MDDG (2.5, 5, and 10%), and 3 inclusion levels of FMDG (2.5, 5, and 10%) in a corn-soybean meal based diet fed for 42 d. Inclusion of up to 10% MDDG significantly decreased growth performance. FMDG inclusion up to 10% did not impair broilers performance up to 42 d. Inclusion of 5% MDDG increased (P < 0.05) the redness (a* value), while including FMDG into the diet at 5% and 10% decreased (P < 0.05) the drip loss and increased (P < 0.05) the shear force of pectoral muscle. The jejunal tight junction proteins, including claudin-1 and occludin, were up-regulated (P < 0.05), and the protein expression level of TNF-α was down-regulated (P < 0.05) by inclusion of MDDG or FMDG. These results suggested that 5% MDDG or 10% FMDG could be incorporated into the diets of broilers to partially replace corn and soybean meal, with FMDG showing particular promise due to its ability to maintain growth performance while enhancing meat quality and intestinal health.