Effects of different formulations of α-tocopherol acetate (vitamin E) on growth performance, meat quality and antioxidant capacity in broiler chickens

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate and compare the effects of α-tocopherol acetate (vitamin E (VE)) and microencapsulated VE (MVE) on growth performance, meat quality and antioxidant capacity in broiler chickens. A total of 360 d-old broiler chicks were procured and randomly allocated into three groups with 6 replicates. Each replicate had 20 chickens. Chickens were fed with basal diets (CON group) or experimental diets supplemented with 20 mg/kg VE (VE group) or 20 mg/kg MVE (MVE group) for 42 d. The results showed that the MVE group had higher body weight gain (BWG) than the CON and VE groups, and higher gain/feed ratio (G/F ratio) than the CON group during the period of 22-42 d. During the whole experiment, a higher increase in BWG was found in the MVE group than the CON group. Chickens fed on diets supplemented with the VE or MVE had lower abdominal fat percentage, higher pH and antioxidant enzyme activity than the CON group in the breast meat. There was an increased tendency in the hepatic glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) enzyme activity of the VE and MVE groups than the CON group. The hepatic mitochondrial total antioxidant capacity and GSH-Px enzyme activity in the MVE group were higher than the CON group. Hepatic 2,2-dipheny-ʟ-picrylhydrazyl scavenging activity of the MVE group was higher than the CON group. These results suggested that the dietary addition of VE or MVE could improve breast meat quality in broilers. MVE supplementation may improve growth performance, hepatic mitochondrial antioxidant capacity and free radical scavenging capacity in chickens. In addition, dietary supplementation of MVE gave better broiler growth performance than VE.

Effects of supplementation with α-tocopherol, ascorbic acid, selenium, or their combination in linseed oil-enriched diets on the oxidative status in broilers

“…The positive effects of the feed supplementation with vitamin E on the protective effects against lipid oxidation observed in this study were consistent with results of previous experiments (Voljč et al, 2013 ; Hu et al, 2015 ). Supplementation with vitamin E and the combination of antioxidants lowered the content of MDA in breast muscle.…”

Effects of dietary α-tocopherol acetate, pomegranate peel, and pomegranate peel extract on phenolic content, fatty acid composition, and meat quality of broiler chickens

“…Vitamin E is a major chain-breaking antioxidant and free radical scavenger, which constitutes a second line of defence for the prevention of lipid peroxidation. Diets supplemented with VE or MVE had a positive influence on stabilizing breast meat quality (Hu et al 2015;Zhang et al 2009).…”

“…Improved feed efficiency of quail was reported by supplementation of vitamin C as an antioxidant that affected the utilization of dietary nutrients (Sahin & Kucuk 2003). Previous studies reported that dietary antioxidants, such as vitamin C, E, flavonoids, and phenolics, could reduce oxidative damage in animals which is generated by different stress sources (Brisibe et al 2009, Hu et al 2015. Therefore, the dietary supplementation of PPE, which contained natural antioxidant HTs, may improve feed efficiency by reducing oxidative damage in broilers fed diet fish oil.…”

“…Long-chain PUFA n-3 family has the potential to generate several types of free radicals and can accelerate lipid peroxidation (Bou et al 2004). Previous studies have shown that the negative outcome of lipid oxidation in chicken meat was diminished by the use of diets containing phenolic compounds such as plant extracts and grape pomace (Sahin & Kucuk 2003;Goñi et al 2007;Akbarian et al 2014;Hu et al 2015), which are considered as natural antioxidant substances. These results are in line with the work of Cortinas et al (2004), who reported that the oxidation process of lipids was interrupted in chickens fed diets containing various PUFA levels and α-Toc acetate.…”

Performance and meat quality of broilers fed different levels of alpha-tocopherol

“…The levels of alpha-tocopherol in the diets did not influence (p>0.05) the color (L*, a*, b*), pH, temperature, shear force, or weight loss by cooking of the breast muscle of chickens slaughtered at 42 days of age (Table 6). Hu et al (2015) compared the effects of α-tocopherol acetate and vitamin E, micro encapsulated on the production performance and meat quality of broiler chickens and did not observe effects on the levels of luminosity (L *), red (a *), yellow (b *), in the loss of weight by cooking and in the shear strength of the breast of broilers raised until 42 days of age. Divergent results were found by Hashizawa et al (2013), who evaluated the effect of vitamin E supplementation on the quality of breast meat from broilers raised under heat stress up to 38 days of age and observed an effect on red (a *) levels.…”