Abstract
Abstract. Due to negative effects of high ambient temperature, the present study was conducted to investigate the effects of Portulaca oleracea hydroextract (PHE) and zinc (Zn) on the growth performance and immunity of broiler chickens reared under high summer ambient temperature conditions. A total of 420 day-old male broiler chickens (Ross 308) were randomly allocated to seven dietary treatments each replicated four times with 15 birds per replicate. The basal diet as the control diet was supplemented with 100 mg kg−1 butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), or 300 and 600 mg kg−1 of PHE, 100 mg kg−1 of zinc and 100 mg kg−1 of zinc plus 300 or 600 mg kg−1 of PHE (ZP300 and ZP600). The result of the present study showed that Zn, PHE and their combination did not alter daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio. Although there was a tendency toward an increase in broiler body weight at 24 and 44 days of age (P=0.059 and P=0.061), the body weight of birds fed the basal diet supplemented with Zn reduced at day 10. The birds fed diets supplemented with BHT or ZP600 showed lower aspartate aminotransferase (ASAT) and lactate dehydrogenase activity at 24 days of age (P<0.05), but it remains lower in the ZP600 group only for ASAT activity level at day 44. The results of the present study suggest that dietary PHE and Zn supplementation partially improved body weight and serum antioxidant capacity, superoxide dismutase activity and antibody titer against sheep red blood cells and Newcastle diseases in the broiler chickens during summer conditions.
Highlights
One of the prominent environmental elements influencing broiler performance and health is high ambient temperature (Song et al, 2012; Sun et al, 2015)
The results showed that there was a tendency toward reduction in the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the broilers fed diets containing butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) or ZnPHE600 during high ambient temperature exposure (P = 0.050)
At 24 and 44 days of age, there was a tendency toward an increase in the average body weight of birds fed diets supplemented with zinc and Portulaca oleracea hydroextract (PHE) combinations and BHT under summer conditions (P = 0.059; P = 0.061)
Summary
One of the prominent environmental elements influencing broiler performance and health is high ambient temperature (Song et al, 2012; Sun et al, 2015). Animal cells have an antioxidant defense system which is responsible for protection and/or repair of cell damage caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS). Antioxidant enzymes including superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) play a critical role in neutralizing ROS and protect cells from damage. Zinc is the cofactor of copper–zinc SOD, as a key enzyme of the antioxidant defense system (Perry et al, 2010). Zinc supplementation (20 to 60 mg kg−1 diet) ameliorated oxidative stress in broiler chickens by increasing the activity of copper–zinc SOD and decreased lipid peroxidation (Bun et al, 2011). Sunder et al (2008) demonstrated that antibody titers against sheep red blood cells (SRBC) significantly increased in broiler chickens fed diets supplemented with zinc up to 80 mg kg−1.
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