Combined impact of lemongrass and spearmint herbs on performance, serum metabolites, liver enzymes, and meat quality of broiler

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the influence of feeding fresh lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) or spearmint (Mentha spicata) and their combination on performance, serum metabo¬lites, liver enzymes, and meat quality in broilers. Materials and Methods: A total of 168 day-old Indian River chicks were arbitrarily offered four experimental rations: (i) control ration (CT-R): corn-soya-based ration, (ii) lemongrass ration (LG-R): CT-R + 1.0% DM of lemongrass; (iii) spearmint ration (SM-R): CT-R + 1.0% DM of spearmint; and (iv) lemongrass-spearmint ration (LS-R): CT-R + 0.5% DM from both lemongrass and spear¬mint. Each ration was given to 42 birds for a duration of 35 days, with 3 replications and 14 birds each. Results: Elevated body weight gain was observed in LG-R (1,502 gm), LS-R (1,492 gm), and SM-R (1,474 gm) compared to CT-R (1,451 gm) (p = 0.078). Herbal rations successfully reduced almost 3%–5% of serum and meat total cholesterol concentrations compared to CT-R. Compared to CT-R, the highest zinc and iron concentrations of serum and meat were measured in LG-R and SM-R, respectively, while both minerals of serum and meat were observed to be better in LS-R (p < 0.05). Herbal rations significantly improved serum liver enzyme activity and ameliorated the red color of breast and thigh meat but failed to improve the lightness and yellowness of both types of meat compared to CT-R. Conclusions: LG-R, SM-R, and LS-R improved bird performance, liver health, and meat color, and lowered serum and meat cholesterol levels. But among them, LS-R efficaciously increased the serum and meat zinc and iron concentrations.

Effect of Adding Dry Leaves of Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) To the Diet on Some Biochemical Tests of Blood in Broiler (Ross 308)

“…The results of Table (3) also indicate that there is a significant decrease in the activity of the AST enzyme in the blood plasma of birds that were fed different levels of lemongrass and vitamin E compared to the control. Furthermore, there were no significant differences in the activity of the ALT enzyme in the blood plasma of broiler chickens between natural and industrial antioxidant treatments, and these results agreed with what was mentioned by [20][21][22] about how the addition of beef herb works to improve the health of broiler by reducing the activity of liver enzymes ALT and AST in the blood plasma of broiler. on the blood plasma and lipidprofile and proteins proteins of the birds fed lemongrass.…”

Improvement of egg internal quality of local ducks through star gooseberry leaf meal inclusion in ration

“…The use of plant materials containing various types of specialized metabolites has also been revealed to have promising effects on improving the lipid profiles of poultry meat and eggs [ 9 , 10 ]. Secondary metabolites, including phenols, alkaloids, saponins, terpenes, lipids, and carbohydrates, are known to have antibiotic, antifungal, antiviral, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, antianaphylactic, antimutagenic, choleretic, and bronchodilatory properties [ 11 – 13 ].…”