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Tibial dyschondroplasia (TD) occurs in chickens and other fast-growing birds, affecting their cartilage growth and leading to reduced meat quality in broilers. Morinda officinalis polysaccharide (MOP) is one of the chief active components of Morinda officinalis, which promotes bone formation, inhibiting bone loss and having anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. A total of 120 AA chickens were randomly divided into the CON group (basal diet), TD group (100 mg/kg thiram + basal diet), and MOP group (100 mg/kg thiram + basal diet + water with 500 mg/kg MOP). The experiment lasted 21 days. The results showed that MOP could alleviates broiler lameness caused by TD, restore the morphological structure of tibial growth plate (TGP), increase tibial weight (p < 0.05), balance the disorder of calcium and phosphorus metabolism, and promote bone formation by increasing the expression of BMP-2, Smad4, and Runx2 genes In addition, MOP supplementation stimulated the secretion of plasma antioxidant enzymes (T-SOD and GSH-Px) by regulating the expression of SOD and GPX-1 genes, thereby enhancing the antioxidant capacity of TD broilers. Interestingly, we observed MOP can also improve gut microbiota by increasing the beneficial bacteria count and decreasing the harmful bacteria count. These findings indicated that MOP can regulate bone formation through the BMP/Smads signaling pathway, attenuating oxidative stress and regulating the gut microbiota of TD broilers, so as to achieve the effect of treating TD. This suggests that MOP might be a potential novel drug in the treatment of TD in chickens.

Broiler leg diseases are a common abnormal bone metabolism issue that leads to poor leg health in growing poultry. Bone metabolism is a complicated regulatory process controlled by genetic, nutritional, feeding management, environmental, or other influencing factors. The gut microbiota constitutes the largest micro-ecosystem in animals and is closely related to many metabolic disorders, including bone disease, by affecting the absorption of nutrients and the barrier function of the gastrointestinal tract and regulating the immune system and even the brain–gut–bone axis. Recently, probiotic-based dietary supplementation has emerged as an emerging strategy to improve bone health in chickens by regulating bone metabolism based on the gut–bone axis. This review aims to summarize the regulatory mechanisms of probiotics in the gut microbiota on bone metabolism and to provide new insights for the prevention and treatment of bone diseases in broiler chickens.