Dietary vitamin E improves meat quality and antioxidant capacity in broilers by upregulating the expression of antioxidant enzyme genes

A total of 240 one-day-old broiler chicks were divided into 3 treatments with 4 replicates of 20 birds. The birds were fed a corn–soybean meal diet supplemented with 0, 100, and 200 mg/kg vitamin E (VE), respectively. The results indicated that VE supplementation led to a significant decrease in shear force (P < .05), and showed higher b* values and lower a* values (P < .05). Dietary supplementation with VE significantly increased VE concentration in serum compared to that in the control group (P < .05). Total antioxidant capacity activity in breast muscle or serum was increased with the increase in dietary VE supplementation in a dose-dependent manner (P < .05). Total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity were linearly increased with the increase in dietary VE (P < .05), while malondialdehyde content decreased linearly (P < .05). The mRNA expression of SOD and GSH-Px in liver was linearly increased with the increase in dietary VE (P < .05). These findings suggest that dietary VE could increase meat quality by upregulating the expression of antioxidant enzyme genes in broilers.