Effect of dietary pine needles powder supplementation on growth, organ weight and blood biochemical profiles in broilers

Abstract

A total of eighty 21-days old broilers with similar body weight were randomly allocated to four dietary treatments with five replicates of four chickens per replicate. Birds were fed diets containing 0% PNP (Control, CT), 1% PNP (PNP1), 3% PNP (PNP3) and 5% (PNP5) respectively. The results showed that the final body weight and body weight gain had no significant differences between groups. The PNP supplementation increased the weight of gizzard and rectums, but decreased small intestine weight (P < 0.05). Overall the weight indices of gizzards and rectums increased in the PNP treatments, while the weight indices of small intestine decreased compared with the CT. Broilers receiving 3% PNP had higher serum superoxide dismutase activity compared with CT. The serum malondialdehyde content was lower in PNP5 treatment compared with CT. The serum triglyceride contents were lower in the PNP3 and PNP5 treatments compared with CT. Total serum cholesterol of PNP1 and PNP3 treatments was lower than CT. In conclusion, this study showed that PNP supplementation reduced the serum cholesterol and triglycerides in broilers and it may improve the development of the digestive tract and antioxidant functions of broilers without altering growth performance.