Livestock Studies 2009, Vol 49, Num, 2     (Pages: 1137-147)

The use of chitosan oligosaccharide in animal nutrition I-The effect of chitosan oligosaccharide on immune system and performance

Tanay BİLAL 1 ,Onur KESER 1

1 İstanbul Üniversitesi Veteriner Fakültesi Hayvan Besleme ve Beslenme Hastalıkları ABD, Avcılar/İSTANBUL - Chitosan is produced by deacetylation of chitin, which is non-toxic, bioavailable and biopolymeric structural element in the exoskeleton of crustaceans (crabs, shrimp, etc.). Although it is well known that chitosan has important functional activities, chitosan oligosaccharide (COS) form was improved due to its higher solubility than chitosan. Recently, many studies have been still carried out with saccharidic natural products considered as prebiotics and bioprotective oligosaccharides such as COS. As a prebiotic, it was proved by many new scientific researches that COS had immunity enhancer, digestibility and performance improver, antimicrobial, antioxidant, anticarcinogen, antidiabetic, lipid and cholesterol lowering effects. In the present paper, the effects of COS on immun system and performance in some farm animals were investigated. Keywords : Chitosan oligosaccharide, Immun system, Performance