Effects of chitooligosaccharide supplementation on performance, blood characteristics, relative organ weight, and meat quality in broiler chickens

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation with chitooligosaccharide (COS) on growth performance, blood characteristics, relative organ weight, and meat quality in broilers. A total of 480 broilers with an average initial BW of 45.04 g per chick were randomly allocated into 1 of the following 4 dietary treatments (20 broilers per pen with 6 pens per treatment): 1) CON (basal diet), 2) ANT (basal diet + 44 mg/kg of avilamycin), 3) COS0.2 (basal diet + 14 g/kg of COS), 4) COS0.4 (basal diet + 28 g/kg of COS). The experiment lasted for 5 wk and avilamycin was administered from d 0 to 21. Growth performance was measured on d 0, 21, and 35, and all other response criteria were measured on d 35. No change in feed conversion (G: F) was observed in response to any of the treatments throughout the experimental period (P > 0.05). However, BW gain and feed intake were greater (P < 0.05) in broilers provided with feed supplemented with COS than in those in the control group. In addition, broilers had significantly greater (P < 0.05) red blood cell and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations when they were provided with the COS0.4 diet, whereas the triglyceride concentration was lower (P < 0.05) in broilers in the COS0.2 treatment group. No other blood characteristics were affected by the treatments. Additionally, as the dietary COS concentration increased, the liver weight increased (P < 0.05). Conversely, as the concentrations of dietary COS increased, abdominal fat decreased (P < 0.05). Furthermore, meat yellowness decreased (P < 0.05) as the concentration of COS increased. Finally, the breast meat and abdominal fat of birds provided with feed supplemented with COS had a lower (P < 0.05) saturated fatty acid concentration but a greater concentration of total monounsaturated fatty acids (P < 0.05) than that of birds in the control. In conclusion, COS can improve the performance and breast meat quality of broilers while increasing the red blood cell and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations in blood. In addition, COS can induce a decrease in abdominal fat and improve meat quality.