ArticleJournal of animal science and biotechnology2026
Dietary theabrownins alleviate age-related declines in productive performance and egg quality by improving intestinal health in laying hens.
Article in Journal of animal science and biotechnology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe late laying period is often accompanied by declines in productive performance, egg quality, and intestinal health in hens. This study used a 2 × 2 factorial design to evaluate the effects of dietary theabrownins (TB), bioactive polyphenols derived from dark tea, on production performance, egg quality, intestinal health, and cecal microbiota in 47- and 67-week-old laying hens. A total of 192 Lohmann Gray hens were fed diets containing 0 or 100 mg/kg TB for 12 weeks.
resultsSignificant age × TB interactions were observed for average daily feed intake (ADFI; P = 0.005), eggshell thickness (P = 0.001), jejunal villus height (P = 0.005), and TJP2 expression (P = 0.029). Compared with 47-week-old hens, 67-week-old hens had higher egg weight, feed-to-egg ratio, and unqualified egg rate, but lower laying rate, egg mass, Haugh unit, and eggshell strength (all P < 0.01). TB supplementation increased laying rate (P < 0.001), egg mass (P = 0.003), Haugh unit (P = 0.015), eggshell strength (P = 0.010), and albumen height (P = 0.018), while reducing feed-to-egg ratio (P = 0.003). TB also improved jejunal morphology by increasing villus height and reducing crypt depth, enhanced antioxidant capacity by increasing T-AOC (P = 0.002) and GST activity (P = 0.025), and upregulated jejunal TJP2 expression in older hens. In addition, TB decreased the Firmicutes/Bacteroidota ratio (P < 0.001) and enriched Prevotellaceae_UCG-001 abundance. Notably, correlation analysis showed that Prevotellaceae_UCG-001 was positively correlated with intestinal antioxidant indices, whereas productive and egg quality traits were significantly associated with intestinal structural and functional indicators.
conclusionDietary TB supplementation partly alleviated age-related declines in productive performance and egg quality in laying hens, possibly through improving intestinal health and modulating cecal microbiota. Notably, the TB-enriched genus Prevotellaceae_UCG-001 was positively associated with intestinal antioxidant indices, suggesting a potential microbial link to the intestinal benefits of TB in aged laying hens. These findings support the potential application of TB as a functional feed additive to help maintain intestinal health and productive performance in aged laying hens.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.