Department of Animal Science, Visva Bharati University, Sriniketan, Santiniketan, 731235, India.
Department of Fish Nutrition, West Bengal University of Animal & Fishery Science, Belgachia, Kolkata, 700037, India.
Trop Anim Health Prod. 2020 Nov;52(6):3899-3905. doi: 10.1007/s11250-020-02352-0. Epub 2020 Jul 31.
Pomegranate fruit peel is a great source of natural polyphenols. The objective of the present study was to evaluate efficacy of pomegranate peel infusion (PPI) on growth characteristics, feed efficiency, blood metabolites and antioxidant profile of broiler chicken. A total of 200 broiler chickens were randomly assigned to 4 treatments with 5 replicates of 10 birds. Pomegranate peel infusion was supplemented in drinking water to 3 treatment groups in a graded dose. At the end of the trial (42 days), 2 broiler chickens from each pen were sampled for serum and liver tissue. Results revealed that low-dose (50 mL/L) PPI influenced (L: P < 0.001) final body weight, daily body weight gain, and feed conversion ratio. Quadratic effect (Q: P < 0.001) was found in overall body weight, average daily gain in body weight, and average daily feed intake. It was also observed that PPI had significant (L: P < 0.05) hypo-lipidaemic effect. PPI supplementation reduced (L: P < 0.01) lipid peroxidation in all supplemented birds. Reduced glutathione and catalase in the liver tissue was also increased linearly (L: P < 0.05) by PPI supplementation, suggesting that natural polyphenols present in the PPI can stimulate antioxidant defence system. Thus, it could be concluded that low-dose supplementation of pomegranate peel infusion could be of great benefits in broiler chickens as a source of natural antioxidants.
石榴果皮是天然多酚的重要来源。本研究旨在评估石榴皮浸提液（PPI）对肉鸡生长特性、饲料效率、血液代谢物和抗氧化特性的影响。将 200 只肉鸡随机分为 4 组，每组 5 个重复，每个重复 10 只鸡。向 3 个处理组的饮水中添加梯度剂量的石榴皮浸提液。试验结束（42 天）时，从每个鸡舍中抽取 2 只鸡用于采集血清和肝脏组织样本。结果表明，低剂量（50 mL/L）的 PPI 影响了最终体重、日增重和饲料转化率（L：P<0.001）。体重、日增重和日采食量均呈现二次曲线效应（Q：P<0.001）。还观察到 PPI 具有显著的降血脂作用（L：P<0.05）。PPI 补充剂降低了所有补充剂组的脂质过氧化作用。肝脏组织中的还原型谷胱甘肽和过氧化氢酶也呈线性增加（L：P<0.05），这表明 PPI 中存在的天然多酚可以刺激抗氧化防御系统。因此，可以得出结论，低剂量的石榴皮浸提液补充剂可以作为天然抗氧化剂的来源，对肉鸡有很大的益处。
