Effects of dietary oregano powder supplementation on the growth performance, antioxidant status and meat quality of broiler chicks

A 6-week experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary oregano powder (OP) supplementation on the growth performance, antioxidant status and meat quality of broiler chicks. A total of 180 one day-old Arbour Acres broilers were randomly divided into 3 treatments with 6 replicates and 10 chicks per replicate. The chicks were fed with basal diet without (CTR), or with 20mg/kg of virginiamycin (ATB), or with 150 mg/kg of OP. At 21 and 42 days of age, two birds from each cage were selected for sampling. Compared to the CTR group, the OP supplementation increased average daily gain and average daily feed intake during the grower period (p¼.047 and .03, respectively) and the whole period (p¼.04 and .02, respectively). The supplementation of ATB and OP did not affect the immune organ index of chicks. In addition, dietary OP reduced malondialdehyde content and increased total antioxidant activity (T-AOC) in the serum of chicks at 21 (p<.01) and 42 (p<.01) days of age, and chicks fed OP had higher T-AOC than the ATB chicks at 21 days of age (p<.01). However, no dietary effect was observed on carcase yield, cooking loss, dripping loss, shear force, pH value and meat colour. The results of the present study indicate that dietary OP supplementation could positively improve the growth and systemic antioxidative defence property of broiler chicks, which had potential to act as a growth promoter comparable to antibiotic in broiler chicks.