**2. Importance of gut health**

The immune and non-immune cells in the gut interact and help to provide intestinal protection, tolerance and homeostasis. In general, these components work in coordination with each other to maintain homeostasis as well as to prevent diseases, in turn maximise the utilisation of acquisition of dietary nutrients and further leads to improvement in production.

#### **2.1 Gut health**

Gut health influences nutrient assimilation, intestinal barrier and integrity, immune response and efficiency, inflammatory balance, susceptibility to enteric

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**Figure 1.**

*Cross section of small intestine.*

*Gut Health and Immunity in Improving Poultry Production*

pathogens. The livestock/poultry utilises several non –specific ways to maintain their health status. Lower pH of the gut and cilia in the respiratory tract is one among the additional barriers in this scenario to counter the pathogenic challenges.

Gut consists of a single layer of epithelial cells and the underlying lamina propria, along with the immune cells and muscularis layers (**Figure 1**). Epithelial cells are in the top most place covered with mucin, include goblet cells, Paneth cells,

Mucous layers covering the epithelia secreted by Goblet cells, and act as a protective barrier, defending the underlying epithelium from damage and infection by pathogenic bacteria and acts as a substrate and fixing medium for communal bacteria [6]. Improper coverage of epithelial by mucous harbours more invasive to pathogenic microbes [7, 8]. Proper nutrition is important for good mucus production

It plays an important immune defence role in the intestine, particularly relating to production of host defence peptides (HDPs), repair of intestinal epithelium especially during damage/inflammation. Paneth cells are majorly located in small intestine crypts. Along with goblets cells, entero ednocrines these will form tight junction. Tight junctions are nothing but multiprotein complexes, form a continuous intercellular barrier between epithelial cells and regular para cellular

and gut immunity to prevent colonisation of infectious microbes.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.95989*

**2.2 Components of gut and functions**

entero endocrine cells.

*2.2.2 Paneth cells*

*2.2.1 Goblet cells and mucin*

pathogens. The livestock/poultry utilises several non –specific ways to maintain their health status. Lower pH of the gut and cilia in the respiratory tract is one among the additional barriers in this scenario to counter the pathogenic challenges.
