Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2023, Vol. 54 ›› Issue (11): 4851-4859.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2023.11.038

• RESEARCH NOTES • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of Hydroxytyrosol on Growth Performance, Antioxidant Capacity and Intestinal Inflammatory Factors in Broilers

SU Dan1,2, WEN Xiaobin2, MA Teng2, ZHONG Ruqing2*, WANG Yang1, CHEN Liang2   

  1. 1. College of Animal Science and Technology, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao 266000, China;
    2. State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition and Feeding, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
  • Received:2023-03-13 Online:2023-11-23 Published:2023-11-26

Abstract: Hydroxytyrosol is a kind of natural polyphenolic compound with strong antioxidant activity. This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary hydroxytyrosol supplementation on growth performance, organ indexes, serum antioxidant performance, short-chain fatty acids, and intestinal inflammatory factors expression of broilers, in order to provide data support for the selection of green additives instead of antibiotics. A total of 126 1-day-old Arbor Acres (AA) broilers with the initial body weight of (46.0±1.0) g were randomly divided into 3 groups with 6 replicates per group and 7 broilers per replicate. Broilers in control group (CON) were fed normal basal diet, and those in experimental groups were fed experimental diets supplemented with 100 mg·kg-1 aureomycin (ANT) and 500 mg·kg-1 hydroxytyrosol (HT), respectively. The experiment lasted for 21 days. The weight gain and feeding consumption of broilers were recorded during the experiment. At 21 days of age, one broiler was randomly selected from each replicate of CON, ANT and HT groups for slaughter and sampling to detect the relevant indexes. The results showed as follows: 1) Compared with CON, BW of broilers in HT and ANT groups was increased by 3.70% and 4.17%, respectively, but the difference did not reach a significant level. The ADFI of broilers fed hydroxytyrosol was 57.17 g, which was significantly higher than that in CON and ANT groups (P=0.007). The data of feed to gain ratio of broilers in the three groups showed a different trend (P=0.069), and were 1.39 (CON group), 1.34 (ANT group) and 1.48 (HT group), respectively. 2) Compared with CON, the activity of catalase (CAT) was significantly increased (P<0.01) in serum of broilers in HT group. The total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) and total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) in serum of broilers in ANT and HT groups were numerically improved, but the differences were not statistically significant. The content of malondialdehyde (MDA) in ANT group and HT group was significantly lower than that in control group (P<0.01). 3) Compared with CON and ANT groups, the supplementation of HT significantly decreased the expression level of TLR-4 transmembrane protein in the TLR4/NF-κB inflammatory response pathway in jejunum mucosa (P<0.05). Compared with CON group and ANT group, supplementation of HT could reduce the expression levels of cytokines IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-β at varying degrees (P<0.05),but the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokine TGF-β was decreased(P<0.05). The expression level of TNF-α was not significantly different between HT and ANT groups, but were both significantly lower than that of CON group (P<0.05). 4) Short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) such as acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, isobutyric acid, valerate acid, isovalerate acid in cecal digesta were analyzed. No statistically significant difference was found in the contents of these SCFA among three treatment groups. In conclusion, hydroxytyrosol has significant antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, which can improve the growth performance of broilers. Its specific mechanism and application prospects need further investigation.

Key words: hydroxytyrosol, broiler, growth performance, antioxidant, inflammatory factor

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