| Summary: | This study aimed to evaluate the effects of tributyrin on growth performance, biochemical indices and intestinal microbiota of yellow-feathered broilers. 360 one-day-old chicks were randomly allocated to three treatments with six replicates of 20 chicks each, including a normal control group (NC), an antibiotic group (PC), and a tributyrin (250 mg/kg) group (TB) for 63 days. The results showed that compared with the control, the feed conversion ratio (FCR) in the TB group decreased during the d22 to d42 (<i>p</i> < 0.05) and overall, the final weight and FCR of broilers tended to increase and decrease, respectively. Moreover, the TB group showed the highest creatine concentrations at the entire period (<i>p</i> < 0.05). TB treatment increased the <i>Bacteroidetes</i> relative abundance and decreased <i>Firmicutes</i>. Principal coordinates analysis yielded clear clustering of the three groups. Linear discriminant analysis effect size analysis found seven differentially abundant taxa in the TB group, including several members of <i>Bacteroidedetes</i>. The relative abundance of <i>Eisenbergiella</i>, <i>Phascolarctobacterium</i>, <i>Megasphaera</i> and <i>Intestinimonas</i> increased in tributyrin-treated broilers. Spearman correlation analysis identified a correlation between <i>Eisenbergiella</i> abundance and overall feed efficiency. These results demonstrated that tributyrin could improve the growth performance by modulating blood biochemical indices and the cecal microflora composition of broilers.
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