Growth performance, blood cell profiles, and meat quality properties of broilers fed with Saposhnikovia divaricata, Lonicera japonica, and Chelidonium majus extracts

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of 3 plant extracts, Saposhnikovia divaricata extract (SDE), Lonicera japonica extract (LJE), and Chelidonium majus extract (CME) on growth performance, blood cell profiles, and meat quality in broilers. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the compounds of phenolic acids and flavonoids was performed by high performance liquid chromatography with diode-array detection for characterization of the selected extracts. Total amounts of phenolic acids and flavonoids in the extracts were in the order of LJE, CME, and SDE. These extracts were added at a rate of 0.2% to the starter and finisher basal diets of broilers, and a feeding study was conducted in battery cages for a period of 5 week. A total of 240, one-day-old male Arbor Acres broilers were allotted to 4 treatments with 4 replicate cages and 15 broilers per cage. The results indicated that daily weight gain was greater in the CME treatment groups and the plant extract treated groups (SDE+LJE+CME) than the control group (P=0.044, P=0.036, respectively), while feed intake was not different among the groups. The feed conversion of broilers fed the SDE-supplemented diets was lower than the control groups (P=0.044). White blood cells, neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, and eosinophils in broilers fed the LJE, CME, and plant extract-supplemented diets (SDE+LJE+CME) were greater than those fed the control diets (P < 0.05). In addition, red blood cells, hemoglobin, and hematocrit were also elevated in broilers fed the LJE diets. Volatile basic N and thiobarbituric acid reactive substance values of broiler breast meat was reduced by the addition of LJE or CME, respectively (P=0.036, P=0.023, respectively). No changes were observed in the meat color, pH, cooking loss, drip loss, fatty acid concentrations, and texture properties, except for the adhesiveness of broiler breast meat, which was increased by the addition of SDE, LJE, and plant extract-supplemented diets (SDE+LJE+CME) compared with the control (P < 0.001). These results indicate that supplementation of these plant extracts in the broiler diet may potentially improve weight gain, blood cell profiles, and meat qualities. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.