Abstract
Yizhi (Alpiniae Oxyphyllae, A. oxyphylla) has been widely used as an important traditional Chinese medicinal herb for centuries. Existing studies have shown that A. oxyphylla has numerous benefits in human and animal health. We hypothesized that extract from the stems and leaves of A. oxyphylla (AOE) as a feed additive may have positive effects on animal health and products. Thus, this study was conducted to evaluate the effects of AOE as a feed additive on growth performance, serum biochemical parameters, intestinal morphology, microbial composition, and meat quality in Jiaji ducks. A total of 240 Jiaji ducks of 42 days old (1675.8 ± 44.2 g, male: female ratio = 1:1) were blocked based on body weight and randomly allocated into four dietary treatments with three replicates that each had 20 duck individuals. The dietary treatments included: basal diet, control group (CK); basal diet supplementation with 30 mg/kg (Y1), 80 mg/kg (Y2), and 130 mg/kg (Y3) AOE, respectively, and lasted for 49 days. The results showed that average daily feed intake from day 42 to day 60 was decreased with the increasing level of AOE (P < 0.05). Compared with the CK group, the groups with AOE supplementation decreased serum LDL-C level (P < 0.05), the addition of 30 mg/kg AOE increased total amino acids, essential amino acids, branched-chain amino acids, nonessential amino acids, and umami taste amino acids (P < 0.05), but decreased selenium and zinc concentrations in breast muscle (P < 0.05). In addition, the supplementation of 30 or 130 mg/kg AOE significantly increased jejunal villus height (P < 0.05) and tended to increase the ratio of villus height to crypt depth in the jejunum (P = 0.092) compared to the CK group. Moreover, the addition of 30 mg/kg AOE showed a higher abundance of genus unclassified Bacteroidales and genus unclassified Ruminococcaceae than the CK group (P < 0.05). Therefore, dietary supplementation with 30 mg/kg AOE increased meat nutrition profile and flavor through promoting amino acid contents in breast muscle, as well as maintained intestine integrity and modulated the microbial composition. In conclusion, AOE as an antibiotic alternative displayed potential in maintaining intestinal health and improving meat quality.
Highlights
Nowadays, adding antibiotics supplementation at the subtherapeutic level to the diet of poultry as a growth promoter has been widely banned in many countries due to the increasing demand for safe animal food and the great concern regarding the spreading of antibiotic resistance
Dietary supplemented with 0.01% or 0.02% grape seed extract increased the growth performance and antioxidative capacity in Pekin ducks [3]
In line with previous results, our study found that dietary AOE had no effects on final body weight, F: G, and average daily gain (ADG) of ducks
Summary
Nowadays, adding antibiotics supplementation at the subtherapeutic level to the diet of poultry as a growth promoter has been widely banned in many countries due to the increasing demand for safe animal food and the great concern regarding the spreading of antibiotic resistance. After the banning of antibiotics, intensive breeding of Jiaji duck has faced the great challenges of reduction in growth rate, risk for intestinal barrier dysfunction, susceptibility to infectious disease, and decline in meat quality and production profits. Plant extracts have been proposed to serve as antibiotic alternatives due to their benefits for poultry production. Dietary supplemented with 0.01% or 0.02% grape seed extract increased the growth performance and antioxidative capacity in Pekin ducks [3]. A traditional plant species in Indian Ayurveda medicine, yielded positive impacts on growth performance and meat quality in broilers [4]. Resveratrol, an anti-inflammatory plant extract, yielded positive impacts on meat quality in Pekin duck through stimulation of intramuscular fat and flavor amino deposition and alteration of muscle fiber characteristics [5]
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