Performance and ileal histomorphology of rats treated with humic acid preparations

Summary As humic acid (HA) substances have antiphlogistic, adsorptive, antitoxic and antimicrobial properties, we studied the possible effects of Farmagülatör®, an organic HA preparation, on the rat performance, nutrient retention, ileal histomorphology and hydroxyproline (HP) content of the ileum in two experiments. In experiment 1, 48 male Wistar albino rats were allotted to three dietary treatments. Each was randomly assigned to four cages, each with four rats. The treatments consisted of a control diet (C) with no addition of Farmagülator® Dry or Liquid, a treatment with addition of 2.5 g/kg Farmagülator® Dry (FDry) and a control diet containing no FDry, but the rats had 3.5 ml/l Farmagülator® Liquid in drinking water (FLiquid). The experiment lasted for 20 days. Changes in live weight were recorded at days 10 and 20 of the experiment. At the end of 20 days, all rats were killed to collect samples of intestinal tissues for the measurements of histological parameters. In experiment 2, 30 rats weaned at 21 days of age were divided into three groups, each with 10 rats, and individually caged in metabolism cages for 10 days. The above three treatments were randomly assigned to rats for 10 days to record body weight and feed intake. During the last 5 days, faecal outputs were collected to determine the dry matter and nitrogen retention. In experiment 1, FDry and FLiquid rats significantly (p