Influence of dietary supplementation of Crassocephalum crepidioides leaf on growth, immune status, caecal microbiota, and meat quality in broiler chickens.

The effect of dietary supplementation of Crassocephalum crepidioides leaf powder (CCLP) in comparison with oxytetracycline and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) on growth, caecal microbiota, immune status, blood chemistry, carcass traits, meat quality, and oxidative stability in broiler chickens was evaluated. Two hundred and eighty 1-day-old Arbor acre chicks were randomly assigned to a basal diet containing either no additive (control, CON), 400 ppm oxytetracycline + 150 ppm BHA (ANTIBIOX), 1000 ppm CCLP (CCLP-1), or 2000 ppm CCLP (CCLP-2) for 42 days. Each dietary group had seven replicates with ten birds per replicate. Supplemented birds had higher (P < 0.05) feed efficiency, hemoglobin, and hematocrit compared with the CON birds. Diet did not affect feed intake, body weight gain, splenic interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, interleukin-10, and serum IgM. The CCLP-2 birds had lower (P < 0.05) serum total and LDL cholesterol than did birds fed other treatments. Salmonella spp. and Escherichia coli counts and serum IgG were higher in the CON birds than in the supplemented birds. The ANTIBIOX birds had lower (P < 0.05) Lactobacillus spp. count, and higher (P < 0.05) E. coli count compared with the CCLP-supplemented birds. Carcass, muscle pH, and cook loss were not affected by diet. The CON breast meat had higher drip loss and lower redness than did the breast meat of the supplemented birds. Carbonyl content and TBARS value in the thigh and breast meat of the supplemented birds were lower (P < 0.05) than those of the CON birds. These results infer that CCLP exhibited antioxidant and antimicrobial properties that were comparable to those of BHA and oxytetracycline in the diet of broiler chickens.