Vet World   Vol.18   October-2025  Article - 16 

Dietary nano-manganese supplementation enhances intestinal integrity, muscle traits, and tight junction protein expression in broilers

Background and Aim: Manganese (Mn) is an essential trace mineral for poultry, supporting skeletal development, metabo­lism, and intestinal health. Conventional inorganic Mn sources often have low bioavailability, leading to oversupplementa­tion, environmental excretion, and mineral imbalance. Mn nanoparticles (Mn-NP) offer improved absorption and reduced environmental burden, but their graded effects on broiler growth, intestinal morphology, meat quality, and tight junction proteins remain underexplored. This study evaluated the impact of dietary Mn-NP supplementation on productive perfor­mance, serum metabolites, jejunal architecture, and intestinal barrier function in broilers.

Materials and Methods: A total of 240-day-old broiler chicks were randomly assigned to six groups (n = 40; 4 replicates of 10 birds) and fed a basal diet (control), bulk Mn (80 mg/kg), or Mn-NP at 20, 40, 60, or 80 mg/kg for 35 days. Growth performance, visceral organ development, serum biochemistry, meat physicochemical attributes, jejunal morphology, and messenger RNA expression of claudin-5 (CLDN-5) and zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) were evaluated.

Results: Mn-NP supplementation did not significantly alter body weight or feed intake. However, the 40-Mn-NP group showed improved feed conversion ratio during weeks 2 and 3 compared with the 80-Mn-NP group. The gizzard weight decreased significantly at 40-Mn-NP, while bulk Mn increased cecal weight. Serum metabolites, including liver and kidney markers, remained unaffected across treatments, indicating no toxicity. Muscle pH45min was higher in 20- and 40-Mn-NP groups, while pH24 was reduced in the 40-Mn-NP and bulk Mn groups. Birds supplemented with 80-Mn-NP exhibited larger muscle fibers, whereas the 20-Mn-NP group showed higher fiber density. Jejunal villi were longer and crypts deeper in the 20-Mn-NP group, while tight junction proteins (CLDN-5, ZO-1) were significantly upregulated in the 60-Mn-NP group.

Conclusion: Mn-NP supplementation at 40–60 mg/kg optimally enhanced feed efficiency, jejunal morphology, and intesti­nal barrier integrity without adverse health effects. These findings highlight Mn-NP as a sustainable alternative to conven­tional Mn supplementation, improving gut health and meat quality while reducing mineral excretion. Future studies should validate long-term safety and commercial-scale applications.

Keywords: broiler performance, intestinal barrier, jejunal morphology, manganese nanoparticles, meat quality, tight junction proteins.

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How to cite this article: Saleem M, Tahir SK, Yousaf MS, Numan M, Zaneb H, and Rehman H (2025) Dietary nano-manganese supplementation enhances intestinal integrity, muscle traits, and tight junction protein expression in broilers, Veterinary World, 18(10): 3135-3148.

Received: 05-04-2025   Accepted: 22-09-2025   Published online: 26-10-2025

Corresponding author: Habib Rehman    E-mail: habibrehman@uvas.edu.pk

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2025.3135-3148

Copyright: Saleem, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.