著者

Yu-Hang Cao Ting-Ting Chen Xiong Peng Rong-Rong Wu Xiang Li Gao-Feng Liu Li-Xia Shen Xiao-Jun Chen Zi Yang Zhao-Ying Liu Zhi-Liang Sun Yong Wu

出版者

Japan Poultry Science Association

雑誌

The Journal of Poultry Science (ISSN:13467395)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.60, no.2, pp.2023023, 2023 (Released:2023-09-09)

参考文献数

42

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The plant species Gelsemium elegans Benth. (GEB) promotes pig and sheep growth; however, little is known about its effects in chickens. In this study, a GEB extract (GEBE) was prepared, and its effects on the growth, slaughter, antioxidant performance, meat quality, serum biochemical indices, intestinal morphology, and microflora of yellow-feathered chickens were evaluated. In total, 600 chickens aged 15 days were randomly divided into four groups with five replicates each and fed a basal diet containing 0% (control), 0.25% (0.25 GEBE), 0.75% (0.75 GEBE), or 1.25% (1.25 GEBE) GEBE until 49 days of age. Chickens were then killed, and their meat, organs, and serum and cecal contents were collected. GEBE reduced the feed conversion ratio, particularly in the 0.75 and 1.25 GEBE groups. Furthermore, the GEBE diet improved meat tenderness and reduced the meat expressible moisture content and liver malondialdehyde content, indicating high meat quality. Whereas the 0.25 GEBE diet increased the level of Lactobacillus acidophilus in the cecum, the 0.75 GEBE diet decreased the Escherichia coli level therein. These findings demonstrate that GEBE may improve the meat quality and cecal microbiota of yellow-feathered chickens, providing a basis for identifying candidate alternatives to conventional antibiotics as growth promoting feed additives.