The Study Of Hawthorn Extract In Boilers

In this research, for the development of functional feed additives, hawthorn extract with active ingredients, mainly composed of flavonoids and organic acid, was applied to study its effects on performance, digestion physiology and meat quality of broilers.Totally 300 healthy and lively one-day-old broilers of AA + were randomly divided into 5 groups with six repeats, 10 chickens in each repeat.One group fed on corn and soybean meal-based diet as control, whereas the experimental groups fed with 0.1g/kg, 0.15g/kg, 0.2g/kg, 0.25g/kg of hawthorn extract added. With a six-week feeding trial, effects on productive performance , digestive physiology and meat quality were evaluated to determine the optimal level of the hawthorn extract added in broiler diets.Test 1: Hawthorns native to Hebei Province were decocted to obtain dark brown aqueous extract. Yield of aqueous extract of the Hawthorn was 44% and the organic acid and total flavonoids made up 9.67% and 10.02% of the extract respectively, measured with acid-base titration and spectrophotometry as Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2000) recommended.Test 2:The experiment was carried out to investigate the effects of the hawthorn extract on performance and apparent digestibility of broilers .The results showed that:average intakes of the 42-day-old broilers, compared to the control group, increased by 5.5% ( P>0.05), 8.42% (P<0.05), 12.11% (P<0.01), 4.1% (P>0.05), a significant reduction observed in group with 0.25g/kg compared to 0.15g/kg and 0.2g /kg group (P<0.05); daily gain were increased by 4.1% (P>0.05), 6.6% (P>0.05), 12.78% (P<0.01), 3.2% (P>0.05), significant and highly singnificant increase observed in0.2g/kg group compared to 0.1g/kg and 0.25g/kg group, separately. Intakes and daily gain increased along with the increase of Hawthorn Extract added into dietary of broilers, but opposite conditions appeared when more than 0.2g/kg extract added. Feed conversion rate did not show significant difference among groups (P>0.05).Apparent digestibility of the crude protein, calcium and phosphorus were improved, compared to the control, but no significant differentce observed among groups (P>0.05). When add 0.1g/kg hawthorn extract, the apparent digestibility of crude fat increased (P>0.05), but decreased when more than 0.1g/kg were added (P>0.05). It showed that 0.2g/kg is a optimal level for hawthorn extract added to broilers'diets.Test 3:Thirty 6-week-old broilers were selected randomly and slaughtered to study the effect on digestive enzyme activity, intestinal microbial flora and the intestinal tissue structure.The results showed that: compared with the control group, addition of 0.2g/kg and 0.25g/kg significantly increased the duodenum and pancreatic trypsin activity (P<0.01), significantly and highly significantly enhanced the pancreatic lipase activity (P<0.05), but no significant effect on the duodenal lipase activity (P>0.05). No significant enhancement (P>0.05) were observed in duodenum and pancreas trypsin, lipase and amylase in the0.1g/kg and 0.15g/kg groups. Compared with the control group, add 0.2g /kg, 0.25g/kg significantly inhibited the E. coli number in ileum and cecum (P<0.05), but in the jejunum the inhibition did not reach significant levels (P>0.05), no significant effects in the remaining (P>0.05).Lactobacillus and total anaerobic bacteria proliferation promoted in all groups.Compared with the control group, the duodenum and microvilli of intestinal villi height of the0.2g/kg group was significantly improved(P<0.05), no significant effect on the depth of the recess (P>0.05); Adding 0.2g/kg, 0.25g/kg extract, the micro-villous height of Campylobacter were significantly increased (P<0.05), but no significant effects on the intestinal villus and crypt depth (P>0.05). Test 4:Thirty 6-week-old broilers were selected randomly and slaughtered to study the effect of the carcass quality of broilers, muscle physicochemical properties and nutritional composition of muscle. The results showed that: the slaughter rate, the rate of net-bore, leg rates of the 0.2g/kg group had improved significantly (P<0.05), no significant effect (P>0.05) on other groups. Adding 0.15g/kg, 0.2g /kg,0.25g/kg extract could significantly reduce the rate of abdominal fat (P<0.01) and adding 0.2g/kg and0.25g/kg significantly reduced the shear force of breast muscle and leg muscle (P<0.05), but no significant effects (P>0.05) on the water loss rate, water loss, pH value.Results:â‘ Adding hawthorn extract in broilers'dietary could improve the performance of production, nutrient digestibility, digestive enzyme activity, regulation of intestinal microflora balance, intestinal micro-structure, and carcass quality of broilers.â‘¡And 0.2g/kg is a suitable level for hawthorn extract added...