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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Animal Nutrition and Metabolism
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1538623
Effects of three medicinal plant powder on growth performance, intestinal health, antioxidant and the antiinflammatory ability of Xianghuang broilers
Provisionally accepted
Xiaowu Tang 1 Runtao Wu 2 Yunmiao Jiang 2 Qi Quan 2 Yutian Xiao 2 Jiaxuan Kuang 2
Can Yang 2* Jiayi Chen 3 Qinghai Tang 2 Zhi Jiang 4- 1 Hunan vocational technical college of Environment and Biology, Hengyang, Hunan Province, China
- 2 Hengyang Normal University, Hengyang, Hunan Province, China
- 3 Changsha Medical University, changsha, China
- 4 Yimin Ecological Agriculture Development Co., LTD, Hengyang, Hunan Province, China
This study investigated the effect of traditional Chinese medicinal (TCM) plant powder made from equal proportion of Sarcococca ruscifolia Stapf, Hedera nepalensis var. sinensis (Tobl.) Rehd, Clematis chinensis Osbeck. on growth performance and intestinal health regarding intestinal histomorphology, antioxidant and anti-inflammation function in Xianghuang broilers. Total 100 10-day-old Xianghuang male chickens were randomly allotted to two groups with five replicates cages of ten birds each. Birds in control group received corn-soybean meal-based diet, and in TCM group received the control diet supplemented with 2 % TCM powder. Chickens were slaughtered for sample collection on D28. Results showed that average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily gain (ADG) and ratio of feed to gain were not affected by TCM supplementation (P＞0.05). In the jejunum and ileum, the ratio of villus height /crypt depth were higher in TCM group compared to control group (P＜0.05). Supplementing broiler with 2% TCM increased the total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities of jejunal mucosa compared with control group (P＜0.05). Gene expression of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) was downregulated in jejunal mucosa and spleen in TCM group when compared with the control group (P ＜0.05). In conclusion, TCM can be utilized safely to promote the development of intestinal tract by affecting antioxidant and anti-inflammation function without affecting the growth performance. Our findings suggest that TCM is an effective and low-toxicity natural intestinal improvement additive in poultry industry.
Keywords: Chinese medicine plant, antioxidant function, Intestinal health, broiler, anti-inflammation
Received: 03 Dec 2024; Accepted: 25 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Tang, Wu, Jiang, Quan, Xiao, Kuang, Yang, Chen, Tang and Jiang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Can Yang, Hengyang Normal University, Hengyang, Hunan Province, China
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