Effects of taurine on growth performance,immune organ development and antioxidative ability of broilers

The study was conducted to evaluate the effects of taurine supplements on broiler growth performance,immune organ development and antioxidative ability.Two hundred and forty 1 day-old chicks,were divided randomly into 5 groups,each group with 3 replicates.The groups were fed basal diets with 0%(control group),0.05%,0.10%,0.15% and 0.20% taurine for 42 d,respectively.The results showed that:(1)Dietary taurine of 0.10% increased the average daily gain and improved feed conversion(P0.05),increased the index of spleen at 3 weeks and the index of bursal at 6 weeks(P0.05),enhanced the activity of superoxide dismutase(SOD) in serum and in liver at 3 weeks,decreased the malondialdehyde(MDA) concentration in serum and liver at 3 weeks(P0.05).(2) Dietary taurine of 0.15% increased the index of Spleen and thymus at 3 weeks(P0.05).(3) Dietary taurine of 0.20% had no remarkable effects on growth performance,immune organ development and antioxidative ability(P0.05).