Research note: efficacy of various flavonoids and simple phenolics in prevention of nutritional myopathy in the chick.

A 33-day feeding experiment was conducted with 3-day-old broiler chicks to assess the efficacy of various flavonoid and simple phenolic antioxidants in preventing nutritional muscular dystrophy (NMD) resulting from vitamin E deficiency. None of the flavonoids or simple phenolics at a dietary concentration of 1,000 ppm completely prevented NMD but quercetin reduced (P less than .05) its incidence and quercetin, morin, and ferulic acid reduced (P less than .05) the severity of the disorder. The low-selenium, low-vitamin E diet also promoted the development of a mild exudative diathesis (ED) in many of the birds, which was inhibited (P less than .05) by the rutin and silymarin treatments, but exacerbated (P less than .05) by quercetin, morin, and ferulic acid. Changes in concentrations of vitamin E in plasma, liver, or muscle, caused by the various treatments (other than vitamin E), were not related to protection against NMD or ED.