Plant extract and probiotcs change elemental status of muscle tissue of broilers

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the effect of probiotic (B. adolescentis and L. acidophilus) and plant extract Quercus cortex (EQC) on the elemental status of muscle tissue of broiler chicken. For this, 120 7-day-old broilers were allocated to the following groups: control group – base diet (BD); I – BD +EQC; II – BD + probiotic; III - BD + probiotic + EQC. The following methods were used: atomic emission spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The of pectoral muscle tissue from broilers in group II contained more calcium, iron, copper, manganese, cobalt, chromium, nickel and vanadium (P≤0.05). In the femoral muscles, there was an increased accumulation of magnesium, phosphorus, nickel and cobalt in group II (P≤0.05). The combined supplementation with QC and probiotic leads to an improvement of the changes the elemental status of muscle tissue, depending on its localisation, with minor changes to carcass traits.