Effects of ganoderma culture on growth,antioxidant status and immune function of broilers

A total of 384 0-day-old male arbor acres broilers were randomly allocated to 4treatments with each treatment having 8replicates of 12birds.Group 1(control group)was basal diet,group 2and 3 were basal diet in which 1% or 2%corn was replaced equally by Ganoderma Culture(GC),group 4contains 3% GC based on low energy and protein basal diet.The experiment lasted for 42days.Supplemented with GC increased the activity of glutathione peroxidase(GSH-Px)in plasma at 21dand 42d(P≤0.038) and decreased the content of malondialdehyde(MDA)at 42d(P=0.001).There was a significant increase in alphanaphthyl acetate esterase positive(ANAE+)percentage at both 21(P=0.001)and 42d(P 0.001)in GC addition group than that in control group.Newcastle disease(ND)antibody titers in group 3 were significantly higher than that in group 1and 2at 42d(P=0.05).The feed conversation ratio in group 1and 2were significantly higher than that in group 4during 22~42d(P=0.041).The results showed that adding GC to diet could increase the antioxidant status and immune functions and improve the performance of broilers which fed with low nutritional diet.