Effects Of Plant Essential Oils On Growth Performance,Meat Quality And Antioxidant Properties Of Mahuang Broilers

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of single or compound plant essential oils on growth performance,slaughter performance,meat quality and immune organ index antioxidant capacity of Mahuang broilers.A total of 360 one-day-old Mahuang female broilers with good health and closely weight were randomly assigned to three treatments with 8 replicates of 15 chicks,including a negative control diet without additives(control),basal diet supplemented with 400 mg/kg of single essential oil group(cinnamic aldehyde)and compound essential oil group(cinnamic aldehyde,the thyme of phenol and carvacrol),trial period is divided into:Broilers of 1 to 21 days of age(early stage),22 to 42 days of age(middle stage)and 43 to 65 days of age(late stage),among them,the late was slaughtered and sampled.Broilers in control group were fed a basal diet,and broilers in single plant essential oil group were fed a basal diet supplemented with 400 mg/kg single plant essential oil(active ingredient was cinnamaldehyde).Broilers in compound essential oil group were fed a basal diet supplemented with 150 mg/kg compound essential oil(active components were cinnamaldehyde,carvacrol and thymol).The main results are as follows:(1)Compared with the control group,the average daily gain(ADG),average daily feed intake(ADFI)and feed consumption/gain ratio(F/G)of Mahuang broilers in single or compound plant essential oil groups had no significant effects at all stages(P>0.05).(2)Compared with control group,dressing percentage,half-eviscerated percentage,eviscerated percentage,breast muscle percentage and abdominal fat percentage of Mahuang broilers at 65 days of age were not significantly affected in single or compound essential oils groups(P>0.05).(3)Compared with the control group,p H45 min,p H24 h,L*,B *,drip loss,cooking loss and shear force of broilers at 65 days of age in single or compound plant essential oil groups had no significant effects(P>0.05).A * of broiler breast muscle in compound plant essential oil group was significantly lower than that in control group and single plant essential oil group(P<0.05).(4)Compared with the control group,the immune organ indexes(thymus index,spleen index and bursa of Fabricius index)of broilers in single or compound essential oils groups at 65 days of age were not affected(P>0.05).(5)At 21 days of age,serum total antioxidant capacity(T-AOC)of broilers in compound plant essential oil group was significantly higher than that in control group and single plant essential oil group(P<0.05).At 65 days of age,the serum total superoxide dismutase(T-SOD)activity of broilers in compound plant essential oil group was significantly higher than that in control group and single plant essential oil group(P<0.05),and the liver malondialdehyde(MDA)content of broilers in single or compound plant essential oil groups was significantly lower than that in control group(P<0.05).