Effects Of Fucoidan On Growth Performance,Digestive Enzyme Activity And Meat Quality Of Broilers

The present study was conducted to study the effects of dietary fucoidan on growth performance,apparent metabolic rate of nutrients,intestinal digestive enzyme activity,meat quality and the emission of harmful gases in feces of broilers.A total of 192 healthy1-day-old chicks with similar body weight were randomly divided into 4 treatments with 6replicates in each treatment and 8 chicks(half male and half female)in each replicate.The control group was fed basal diet,and the addition groups were fed basal diet with,respectively,125,250 and 500 mg/kg fucoidan.The trail lasted for 42 days,which was divided into early stage(d 1-21)and late stage(d 22-42).Feed and water were provided ad libitum during the experimental period.The results were listed as follows:1.Compared with the control group,dietary supplementation of 125 and 250 mg/kg fucoidan significantly increased the average daily gain(ADG)in the later period of experiment;dietary supplementation of 125 and 250 mg/kg fucoidan could improve the average daily gain(ADG)during the whole experiment period(P=0.05).However,dietary supplementation of fucoidan had no significant effects on average daily feed intake and the ratio of feed to gain of broilers(P> 0.05).2.Compared with the control group,the addition of 125 and 250 mg/kg fucoidan significantly increased the apparent metabolic rate of dry matter(P<0.05);the apparent metabolic rate of calcium was significantly increased by adding 250 and 500 mg/kg fucoidan in the diet in the early stage of the experiment(P<0.01);the apparent metabolic rate of phosphorus was significantly increased by adding 125,250 and 500 mg/kg fucoidan(P<0.01).However,dietary fucoidan had no significant effect on the apparent metabolic rate of crude protein and crude fat(P>0.05).3.Compared with the control group,the amylase activity in duodenum was significantly increased by adding 500 mg/kg fucoidan(P<0.01),and that in ileum was significantly increased by adding 250 mg/kg fucoidan(P<0.05),in addition,500 mg/kg fucoidan could improve the activity of duodenal chymotrypsin(P=0.05).However,dietary fucoidan had no significant effect on the activities of trypsin and lipase in small intestine of broilers(P>0.05).4.Compared with the control group,adding 250 mg/kg fucoidan significantly reduced the drip loss rate of breast and leg muscle at h 48(P<0.01),but had no significant effect on the other indexes of breast and leg muscle quality(P>0.05).5.Compared with the control group,dietary supplementation of 125 and 250 mg/kg fucoidan significantly reduced the ammonia emission in broiler feces at the early stage and late stage of the experiment(P<0.05).However,dietary supplementation of fucoidan had no significant effect on the emission of hydrogen sulfide in broiler feces(P>0.05).In conclusion,dietary supplementation of fucoidan significantly increased the nutrient apparent metabolic rate and intestinal digestive enzyme activity of broilers,and had a significant effect on growth performance of broilers.Meanwhile,dietary fucoidan could increase the water holding capacity of muscle,and thus improved the meat quality.In addition,dietary fucoidan could reduce the emission of ammonia in feces.