Effects of dietary zingiber officinalis on performance and antioxidant system of broiler chicks

The purpose of the present study was to determine the effects of dietary Zingiber officinalis on performance and antioxidant system of broiler chicks. A day old male broiler chicks (ROSS 308) were divided 4 treatments groups with similar live weight (47.62 g), containing 20 birds each. The birds were fed basal diets (control group), 2, 4 and 8g/kg Zingiber officinalis supplemented diets for 5 weeks period. Feed and water are given ad libitum. Broiler performance was assessed by recording weekly feed intake, weekly live weight gain, carcass weight and abdominal fat weight end of the experiment. At the end of the experiment all birds from each group were randomly chosen to take blood samples. The serum was analyzed for TAS, TOS, ALT and AST. The results show that feed intake, live weight gain, hot and cold carcass weights were significantly decreased by 2 g/kg ve 4 g/kg Zingiber officinalis supplementation compared to the control group, whereas 8 g/kg Zingiber officinalis supplementation increased again. The supplementation of Zingiber officinalis to the ration reduced the weight of the abdominal fat; however, this reduction was slightly increased by the addition of 8 g/kg of Zingiber officinalis supplementation. In addition, serum TOS concentrations and OSI value were decreased by 4g/kg Zingiber officinalis supplementation. Serum AST and ALT concentrations have also decreased by Zingiber officinalis supplementation. The results obtained present study suggests that performance was significantly decreased by Zingiber officinalis supplementation, however oxidative capacity was increased by treatment.