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Star anise (Illicium verumHook. f) has been used as spice and herbal medicine for many years with lacking researches on evaluating its application for improving relative organ weight, intestinal development, and quality of animal products. The experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of star anise, its essential oil and leavings on carcass traits, relative organ weight, intestinal development, and meat quality of broiler chickens. A total of 384 broilers were randomly assigned to 4 treatments with 8 replicates of 12 birds each. The 4 dietary treatments were basal diet (Control), basal diet supplemented with 5 g/kg star anise (Star anise), basal diet supplemented with 0.22 g/kg essential oil (Essential oil), and basal diet supplemented with 5 g/kg leavings (Leavings). The concentration of main active components in the experimental diets was 0.204 g trans-anethole/kg of diet. All birds were fed a starter diet (0–21 d) and a grower diet (22–42 d). Birds supplemented with star anise and essential oil had a greater (P < 0.05) final body weight (BW) than control birds and those supplemented with leavings. However, the carcass yield, half chamber rate, eviscerated rate, and percentages of breast muscle and thigh muscle in birds were similar (P > 0.05) among all treatments. Birds supplemented with star anise and essential oil had higher (P = 0.010) relative weight of thymus than those in control and leavings groups. Essential oil supplemented groups appeared to contain the highest (P < 0.05) villus height in ileum and villus height/crypt depth ratio in ileum and jejunum among all the groups. Meanwhile, among all the groups, breast muscles of essential oil–supplemented groups appeared to contain the lowest (P = 0.012) boiling loss but highest (P < 0.001) concentration of inosinic acid (inosine 5′-monophosphate, IMP). In conclusion, dietary supplementation of 5 g/kg star anise and 0.22 g/kg essential oil improved BW, relative organ weight, and intestinal development, and 0.22 g/kg essential oil can also increase the concentration of IMP but decrease the boiling loss in breast muscles of broilers; however, 5 g/kg leavings had no effect.

We characterized the mechanism underlying star anise (Illicium verumHook.f) oil (SAO)–mediated antioxidant status during subclinical Escherichia coli(E. coli) challenge. A total of 512 male birds (White Leghorn) at 30 wk of age with similar body weight (2.14 ± 0.02 kg) were randomly divided into 2 groups with 1 group being orally challenged with E. coli(every other day from day 15 to day 27) during the experiment. Each group of birds was then randomly allocated to dietary treatment of SAO supplementation at 0, 200, 400, or 600 mg/kg of basal diet (8 replicate cages during each treatment). The treatments were arranged a 4 × 2 factorial arrangement. The experiment comprised 1 wk of adaptation and 3 wks of data collection. There was no interaction (P> 0.05) between SAO supplementation and E. colichallenge for final body weight and average daily feed intake of birds. However, E. colichallenge resulted in a significant decrease (P< 0.001) in final body weight of birds as compared with unchallenged birds. There were interactions between SAO supplementation and E. colichallenge for the activity of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration in serum and for the activity of GSH-Px in the liver of birds. Supplementation of SAO enhanced the activities of antioxidant enzymes but decreased the MDA content in the serum and liver of birds, and it also enhanced the expression of genes including superoxide dismutase, catalase, and nuclear factor E2–related factor 2 (Nrf2) in the liver of the birds. Meanwhile, supplementation of SAO can also reduce E. colichallenge–induced oxidative stress in the serum and liver of birds, and the efficacy of SAO in birds during subclinical E. colichallenge is dose-dependent. In conclusion, the enhancement of antioxidant capacity by star anise or its effective compounds is through upregulation of Nrf2 signaling pathway. The optimum supplementation dose of SAO for protecting birds against E. colichallenge is 400 mg/kg.

To investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of star anise oil (SAO) on performance and antioxidant status of laying hens, a total of 864 Hy-Line brown laying hens at 26 wk of age were randomly allocated to 4 treatments with 6 replicates of 36 birds. Dietary treatments were non-star anise oil supplementation and supplemented with SAO at the level of 200, 400, and 600 mg/kg diet. The birds were fed the diets for 56 d. Average egg weight, average daily feed intake (ADFI), egg mass, laying rate, and feed conversion of each replicate were measured. Blood and liver samples from 12 birds were obtained, 72 eggs were picked out, per treatment at day 28 and day 56 of the experiment, and eggs stored for 56 d, to determine antioxidant status in serum, liver, and yolk. All laying hens had similar average egg weight, egg mass, laying rate, and feed conversion in day 29 to day 56 or the entire period of the experiment but significant difference on ADFI in day 1 to day 56. However, increasing diet concentration of SAO tended to improve (P< 0.10) egg mass, average egg weight, and ADFI in day 1 to day 28. Supplementation of SAO linearly increased (P< 0.05) activities of total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) (day 28 and day 56) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) (day 56) in serum, GSH-PX (day 28 and day 56) in liver and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) (day 56) in serum and liver, but linearly reduced (P< 0.05) concentrations of malondialdehyde (MDA) (day 28 and day 56) in liver. Supplementation of SAO linearly increased (P< 0.05) T-SOD activity at day 14 and day 28, reduced (P< 0.05) MDA concentration at day 42 and day 56 of the experiment in yolk. Increasing content of SAO linearly (P< 0.05) increased T-SOD activity in yolk of eggs stored at day 0, 14, 28, 42, and 56, decreased MDA content of eggs stored at day 42 and 56, whether laying hens fed diets for 28 or 56 d. Dietary supplementation of SAO enhanced laying performance and overall antioxidant status of laying hens in a dose-dependent manner.

AbstractTo investigate the effects of Clostridium butyricum(C. butyricum) on breast muscle lipid metabolism of broilers, 192 one-day-old male Arbor Acres broilers were randomly allocated into 2 treatments with 6 replicates in a completely randomised design. The broilers were fed corn-soybean meal-based diets and supplemented with 0 or 1 × 109cfu of C. butyricum/kg of diet for 42 days. The birds in the C. butyricum-supplemented group showed higher (p < .05) average daily gain during the grower phase and throughout the entire period of the experiment and a lower (p = .047) feed conversion rate during the grower phase. Supplementation with C. butyricumincreased (p < .05) the intramuscular fat content, lipoprotein lipase activity and mRNA levels in the breast muscle at 42 days of age, increased (p = .032) the serum insulin level at 21 days of age, and enhanced (p = .020) the caecal Firmicutesrelative abundance at 42 days of age. Additionally, supplementation with C. butyricumreduced (p < .05) the serum growth hormone levels at both 21 and 42 days of age, decreased (p < .05) the ileum angiopoietin-like protein 4 (ANGPTL4) mRNA levels and serum ANGPTL4 concentrations at 42 days of age, and decreased (p < .05) the hormone-sensitive lipase activity, carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1, carnitine palmitoyltransferase 2, and long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase mRNA levels in the breast muscle at 42 days of age. In conclusion, dietary supplementation with C. butyricumcould potentially target caecal microbiota and reduced the breast muscle fatty acid oxidation of broilers.