The antioxidative influence of dietary creatine monohydrate and L-carnitine on laying performance, egg quality, ileal microbiota, blood biochemistry, and redox status of stressed laying quails.

The experiment was implemented to assess the influence of dietary supplementation of laying quails with creatine monohydrate (CrM), L-carnitine (CAR) and their mixture (CrMCAR) as antioxidants against oxidative stress (OS) induced by 2.5 ppm lead acetate (LA) in drinking water on productive, physiological and microbial aspects. In total, 400 laying quail females at 10 wk of age were divided into a randomized design with 5 groups and 4 replicates of 20 birds each. Birds were fed ad libitum with a balanced diet for 8 wk. The control group was kept under no-stress conditions and was given fresh water without any additives (G1). While birds in other groups were exposed to OS induced experimentally by 2.5 ppm LA in drinking water with no feed additive (G2) or supplemented with 500 mg/kg CrM (G3) or 500 mg/kg CAR (G4) or combination of 250 mg/kg each of CrM and CAR (CrMCAR, G5) to feed mixture. Compared to G2, G5 demonstrated the reduction (P ≤ 0.05) of feed conversion ratio, feed intake, mortality and ileal total coliform, as well as serum and egg malondialdehyde and serum lipid hydroperoxide, uric acid, glucose, cholesterol, enzymatic activities (alanine aminotransferase, aspartate transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, creatine phosphokinase, γ-glutamyl transferase), and heterophils/lymphocytes ratio. In the meanwhile, there was an increase (P ≤ 0.05) in egg production, egg mass, and weight with the improvement of egg quality, serum sex hormones level and ileal lactic acid bacteria for G5 followed by G4 and G3. Moreover, G5 enhanced (P ≤ 0.05), the total antioxidant capacity of egg and serum glutathione, superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, protein and calcium levels. Therefore, dietary CrMCAR, CAR and CrM have analogous influence to control by improving the antioxidant and physiological parameters which resulted in better productive performance and egg characteristics of stressed quails. These antioxidants, especially in their equal combination, are beneficial to alleviate oxidative stress incidence and can be recommended for poultry feeding under various aspects of environmental stresses.

The Antioxidative Impact of Dietary Vinegar and Rocket Salad on the Productivity, Serum Oxidation System, and Duodenal Histology of Chickens.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the ameliorative effect of dietary rocket salad and apple cider vinegar on the oxidative stress (OS) status of broilers. Specifically, 720 Ross 308 chicks were divided into six groups: negative and positive controls (NC and PC with and without additives, Vi1 and V12 experimental groups fed with diets mixed with 5 and 10 mL of vinegar/kg, and Ro1 and Ro2 groups fed with diets mixed with 2 and 3 g of rocket salad/kg, respectively). The experimental groups Vi1 and Vi2 were fed with feed mixture moisturized with 5 and 10 mL of vinegar/kg, and Ro1 and Ro2 were fed with 2 and 3 g of rocket salad/kg, respectively. The birds' productivity, oxidative serum parameters, and morphometric indices of the gastrointestinal tract were registered at 6 weeks of rearing. The vinegar or rocket salad additive had powerful potentials to significantly suppress (p ≤ 0.05) OS through improving the birds' survivability, body weight gain, feed conversion ratio, and carcass yield. The highest villus height and villus height/crypt depth ratio of the duodenum were achieved by Vi2, Ro1-2, and NC (p ≤ 0.05). The villus surface area and muscular layer thickness were smallest in the PC, while they did not differ significantly in other groups (p > 0.05). Similar relationships were found in serum superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, hydroperoxide, and malondialdehyde; however, higher doses of both additives were more effective. It seems that liquid vinegar and rocket salad could have beneficial influences on the antioxidant status of birds.