Highlights
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- Mentha piperita improved blood lipid profile of growing quails.
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- Mentha piperita increased the humoral immunity of growing quails.
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- Mentha piperita improved meat quality of growing quails.
Abstract
In this experiment, the effect of dietary Mentha piperita
L. (MP, peppermint) on biochemical blood parameters, meat quality, and
humoral immunity responses of growing Japanese quails were evaluated. A
total of 360 seven-day-old quail chicks were fed six experimental diets
(with 5 replicates and 12 birds each) including control positive (basal
diet + antibiotic), control negative (basal diet), MPI (basal
diet + 10 g/kg MP), MPII (basal diet + 20 g/kg MP), MPIII (basal
diet + 30 g/kg MP), and MPIV (basal diet + 40 g/kg MP) for 5 weeks. At
the end of experiment, two birds in each replicate were sacrificed for
blood sampling and assessment of meat quality. The birds were injected
with sheep red blood cell (SRBC, at days 18 and 28 for primary and
secondary responses) and Newcastle disease virus (NDV, at day 14)
antigens. Concentrations of triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC),
low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were
decreased in birds received dietary peppermint but the level of
high-density lipoprotein (HDL) increased (P < 0.001)
compared to control groups. Incremental levels of dietary peppermint
decreased the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), drip loss, and cooking
loss in meat samples compared to control diets (P < 0.001) while humoral immunity system has been boosted in birds fed dietary peppermint (P < 0.05). Regression analysis showed that minimum rate of TC, LDL, TG, cooking loss, and MDA may be achieved with 25.7 (R2 = 0.89), 22.1 (R2 = 0.90), 21.8 (R2 = 0.64), 29.3 (R2 = 0.58), and 11.0 g/kg (R2 = 0.99)
of peppermint in the diet. Moreover, the maximum rate of HDL, antibody
production against secondary SRBC, and NDV antigens were obtained with
24.0 (R2 = 0.88), 13.1 (R2 = 0.99), and 26.7 g/kg (R2 = 0.98)
of peppermint in the diet. Principal component analysis showed that
humoral responses and HDL concentration positively correlated with
peppermint groups but the use of antibiotic may impair the oxidative
stability of quail meat and deteriorate the blood profile. This study
revealed that peppermint at the rate of 20–30 g/kg of diet could be a
promising alternative to antibiotics in order to improving blood
profile, humoral immunity, and meat quality in growing Japanese quails.
Abbreviations
- MP, Mentha piperita;
- SRBC, sheep red blood cell;
- NDV, Newcastle disease virus;
- TG, triglyceride;
- TC, total cholesterol;
- LDL, low-density lipoprotein;
- HDL, high-density lipoprotein;
- ALT, alanine amino trasnferase;
- AST, aspartate amino transferase;
- MDA, malondialdehyde;
- TCA, trichloroacetic acid;
- WHC, water-holding capacity;
- PC, principal component
Keywords
- Quail chick;
- Blood lipoproteins;
- Malondialdehyde;
- Drip loss;
- Antibody titer
- Corresponding
author at: Department of Animal Science, College of Agriculture,
University of Zabol, Zabol, 9866-15538, Iran. Tel.:
+98 915 541 6605; fax: +98 542 224 2501.
