Influence of supplemental Schisandra chinensis powder on growth performance, serum cholesterol, and meat quality of broilers

We assessed the effects of broiler diets (n = 45 birds/treatment) with Schisandra chinensis powder on growth performance, serum cholesterol, and meat quality over a 35-d feeding period. Dietary treatments included 0%; 0.05% antibiotics; and 0.5%, 1%, and 2% S. chinensis powder. No significant differences were found in growth performance, crude ash, carcass weight and ratio or spleen weights, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and b(star) (yellowness) values among treatments. Moisture, crude protein, and crude fat contents in chicken thigh meat differed among all treatments. Compared to other treatments, increasing S. chinensis levels induced lowering of the liver and abdominal fat weights, total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol levels or pH, Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARSs), and L-star (lightness) values. Total phenol, 1,1-dipheny1-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging, and a(star) (redness) values were increased by treatments with increasing levels of S. chinensis. Diets with 1% or 2% S. chinensis lead to a greater decrease in serum cholesterol and improvements in the physical chemical properties and meat color stability of broilers.