Evaluation of Two Sources of Plant Antioxidants on Antioxidant Status, Morphology Changes of the Jejunum, Antibody Titer Against Influenza and Growth Performance of Broilers

Introduction and Objetive: 

Numerous plant bioactive substances have been shown to improve growth performance, antioxidant status and animal immune systems.Artichoke and onion are a rich source of natural antioxidants and  flavonoids  that have antimicrobial and antioxidant properties.

520 one-day-old commercial 308 chicks were randomly assigned to five treatments and four replications (26 chicks per replication) from 1 to 42 days of age. Experimental treatments included basal diet and basal diet plus 1.5% artichoke, 3% artichoke, 1.5% onion and 3% onion. Dried artichokes and freshly and peeled white onions,after grinding and mixing with corn, soybean meal and other ingredients were used. The effects of different levels of onion and artichoke plant on growth performance, gastrointestinal morphology and immune system of broiler chickens was investigated.

Malondialdehyde, DPPH and SOD were significantly affected by experimental treatments (p<0.05). So that the amount of malondialdehyde significantly decreased in treatments containing onions compared to the control treatment (p<0.05). Also, the percentage of DPPH in experimental treatments, especially in diets containing 3% artichoke and containing onion, increased significantly compared to the basal diet (p<0.05). Addition of artichoke and onion to the diet increased the antibody titer against influenza at 35 days (p<0.05). With the addition of artichoke and onion to the diet, the height of the villi increased and the depth of the crypts decreased significantly (p<0.05). Throughout the experiment, chickens fed onions (one and a half and three percent) showed higher weight gain (p<0.05). Experimental treatments had no significant effect on the percentage of breast, thigh and carcass weight of broilers. Adding artichokes and onions to the diet improved antioxidant status, anti-influenza antibody titers, and improved the height of the jejunal villi relative to the control.The best level was 1.5% dried artichoke or 3% fresh onion.

Flavonoid compounds are one of the compounds that will be commercially available in the future. Due to the improvement of antioxidant status indices of treatments containing artichoke and onion, it is recommended that onion and artichoke flavonoids  and other bioactive substances be extracted and the effects of using this substances purely in broiler diets be investigated.