Effects of Yupingfeng polysaccharide on growth performance, serum growth-related hormones, and metabolomics in chicks

Sifan Chen; Wendan Zheng; Yuling Guan; Bo Wu

doi:10.2478/aoas-2026-0010

Effects of Yupingfeng polysaccharide on growth performance, serum growth-related hormones, and metabolomics in chicks

Annals of Animal Science

AHEAD OF PRINT

By: Sifan Chen, Wendan Zheng, Yuling Guan and Bo Wu

Open Access

|Oct 2026

Abstract

Yupingfeng polysaccharide (YPF-P), a polysaccharide derived from traditional Chinese medicine, has attracted increasing attention for its beneficial biological and pharmacological properties. This study investigates the effects of YPF-P on serum growth-related hormones, serum metabolomics, and growth performance in chicks. A total of 4,224 three-day-old Qingyuan partridge chickens were randomly assigned to four groups, receiving a basal diet supplemented with 0, 1, 2, or 4 g/kg YPF-P. The present study demonstrates that dietary supplementation with 2 g/kg YPF-P significantly enhanced final body weight (FBW), average daily gain (ADG), and elevated serum levels of growth hormone (GH), growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), triiodothyronine (T3), and thyroxine (T4) (P<0.05). Metabolomic analysis further revealed that serum differential metabolites were predominantly enriched in amino acid metabolism pathways, with levels showing a significant positive correlation with growth-related hormones (P<0.05). These findings suggest that YPF-P promotes broiler growth by modulating endocrine growth-related hormones and reprogramming key metabolic pathways.

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