Effects of Dietary Supplementation of Lotus Leaves Extract on Antioxidant Ability and Meat Quality of Yellow Broilers

To determine the effect of dietary supplementation of lotus leaves extract(LLE) on antioxidant ability and meat quality of yellow broilers,1200 birds were randomly divided into 3 groups having 10 replicates(half male and half female)of 40 chicks each.The control group was fed a basal diet,the other two treatment groups were fed the basal diet with added 0.1% and 0.2% LLE respectively until 120 days of age.Dietary supplemented with 0.1% LLE increased pH45 min value of muscle in male(P0.05) and breast meat colour b* value in female(P0.05).Supplementation with 0.1% LLE also improved total antioxidant capacity(T-AOC)(P0.05) and glutathioneperoxide(GSH-Px) activity(P0.01),decreased malondiadehyde(MDA) content in musle of male significantly.The effect of LLE on antioxidant ability of female had a same trend with female,T-AOC was increased(P0.1),GSH-Px activity was significantly improved(P0.05),and MDA content was decresed(P0.1).Compared with the control,0.2% LLE supplementation also increased breast meat colour b* value in female(P0.05),but other index of meat quality and antioxidant ability did not differ.The results indicated that the LLE supplementation improved antioxidant ability of yellow broilers and had a benificial effect on meat quality.