Research note: Effects of dietary supplementation of Abelmoschus manihot L. flower extract on growth performance, antioxidant capacity, intestinal health, and welfare in broiler chickens

TL;DR

This study shows that adding Abelmoschus manihot flower extract to chicken feed improves growth and intestinal health without harming their welfare.

Contribution

The study demonstrates that Abelmoschus manihot extract is a promising natural feed additive for improving broiler chicken productivity and gut health.

Findings

Dietary Abelmoschus manihot extract at 0.04% improved feed efficiency and growth performance in broiler chickens.

Higher extract inclusion increased villus height to crypt depth ratio, indicating better intestinal morphology.

Gait scores improved with extract supplementation, suggesting better welfare outcomes.

Abstract

The objective of this experiment was to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of Abelmoschus manihot (AE) L. flower extract on growth performance, antioxidant capacity, intestinal health, and welfare in broiler chickens. A total of 144 one-d-old Arbor Acres broiler chickens were allotted to 1 of 3 dietary treatments with 8 replicates per treatment in a completely randomized design. Each replicate consisted of 6 birds. The corn-soybean meal-based basal diet was formulated without supplemental AE. Two Additional diets were prepared by adding AE to the basal diet at inclusion levels of 0.02 or 0.04%. The experimental diets were fed to birds for 35 d. Results indicated that birds fed diets containing 0.04% AE had greater (P < 0.05) feed efficiency (FE) than those fed the basal diet. Body weight (BW), BW gain, and FE of broiler chickens increased (linear, P < 0.05) as inclusion levels of AE in diets increased. Feeding diets supplemented with 0.04% AE showed greater (P < 0.05) villus height to crypt depth (VH:CD) ratio than feeding diets supplemented with 0 and 0.02% AE. Increasing inclusion levels of AE in diets decreased (linear, P < 0.05) CD and increased (linear, P < 0.05) VH:CD ratio. Feeding diets supplemented with 0.04% AE showed less (P < 0.05) gait score than feeding diets supplemented with 0% AE, and gait score decreased (linear, P < 0.05) by increasing inclusion levels of AE in diets. Collectively, dietary AE supplementation showed positive effects on growth performance and intestinal morphology, without adverse impacts on hepatic antioxidant capacity or welfare parameters in broiler chickens. These results indicate that AE may be considered a promising phytogenic feed additive in broiler diets to improve productivity and intestinal health of broiler chickens.