Department of Animal Nutrition

West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences

37 K. B. Sarani, Belgachia, Kolkata- 700 037, India

Research on natural plant secondary compounds (PSC) has gained widespread impetus for use as feed additives to improve production performance, welfare and health of livestock and poultry due to their antimicrobial, antioxidant, immunostimulatory and other beneficial biological effects. Moreover, various PSC are usually present in regular diets of animals and humans. Dietary PSC may regulate absorption of nutrients, minerals and ammonia via transcellular and paracellular routes in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract influencing nutrient transporter gene expression and molecular structures of tight junctions. Some PSC stimulate nutrient absorption, while other PSC may impair transport mechanisms in the intestine interacting with nutrient transporters of enterocytes and tight junction motifs and their regulatory proteins. One challenging aspect is to select an effective dose at which a specific PSC could improve GI nutrient absorption while preserving or improving other beneficial biological effects. The optimum doses and precise molecular mechanisms for PSC are yet to be identified to understand discrepant observations among different studies and to improve the targeted biotechnological and pharmaceutical uses of PSC in farm animals. This review discusses the effects of different PSC on nutrient transport and permeability of GI epithelia and their mechanism of actions focusing mainly on livestock species.

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