Volume 184, February 2016, Pages 35–40
The Effects of purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.) powder on growth performance, carcass characteristics, antioxidant status, and blood metabolites in broiler chickens
- Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran
- Received 26 July 2015, Revised 18 November 2015, Accepted 10 December 2015, Available online 11 December 2015
Highlights
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- Inclusion of Purslane powder in broiler chicken diet improved feed conversion ratio.
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- Greater liver catalase activity was recorded in broiler chickens fed 0.25 or 0.75% of Purslane powder. Erythrocyte GSH-Px activity was also greater when 0.5 and 1.0% of Purslane powder included in the diet.
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- Inclusion of Purslane powder in the diet increased ileum Lactobacillus population and decreased Escherichia coli population.
Abstract
This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of Portulaca oleracea
L. powder (POP) on growth performance, carcass characteristics,
antioxidant status, and blood metabolites in broiler chickens. A total
of 280 one-day-old male broiler chickens were randomly assigned to 5
treatments: corn-soya bean meal as the basal control diet and the basal
diet containing 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, or 1.00% of POP. Each treatment
consisted of 4 replicate pens with 14 broiler chickens per pen. The
results indicated that dietary inclusion of POP had no effect on broiler
chickens body weight (BW) and body weight gain (BWG), whereas feed
intake (FI) decreased compared to control (P<0.05). Broiler chickens fed diets supplemented with 0.25, 0.75, and 1.00% of POP had a lower (P<0.05)
feed conversion ratio (FCR) compared to control at days 11–25 and 1–43
of age. At day 43 of age liver superoxide dismutase (SOD) and
glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities were not affected by the
treatments, whereas a greater (P<0.05) liver catalase
activity (CAT) was recorded in broiler chickens fed 0.25 or 0.75% POP.
Erythrocyte GSH-Px activity was also greater (P<0.05) when
0.50 and 1.00% of POP was added to the diet. Serum total antioxidant
capacity (TAC) and serum and liver malondialdehyde (MDA) concentrations
were not affected by POP supplementation. Carcass characteristics, serum
cholesterol, glucose, albumin, total protein, high density
lipoproteins, and low density lipoproteins as well as haematocrit and
haemoglobin values were not affected by POP treatments, whereas serum
triglycerides increased (P<0.05) in broiler chickens fed POP supplemented diets. Supplementation of diet with POP increased Lactobacillus population and decreased Escherichia coli population in the ileum (P<0.05).
In conclusion, POP improved feed efficiency and antioxidant status and
can be considered as a feed additive in broiler chickens.
Keywords
- Portulaca oleracea;
- Antioxidant;
- Growth performance;
- Broiler chicken
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
