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Objectives: This study aimed to assess the influence of feeding fresh lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) or spearmint (Mentha spicata) and their combination on performance, serum metabolites, 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 (LGR): 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 spearmint. 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, the effects of dietary buckwheat on phytase activity in the digesta from different parts of the digestive tract, and ileal digestibility of nutrients were determined in broilers fed with buckwheat diets. Eighty male broilers (29-d-old) were divided into four groups (20 birds each), and were fed one of the following diets until they were 36-d-old: positive control (PC) diet formulated based on the NRC recommendations, negative control (NC) diet containing 0.15% lower non-phytate phosphorus (P) than that in the PC diet, and two other diets formulated by replacing corn in NC diet with either 20% non-germinated (BU) or germinated (GBU) buckwheat. At the age of 36 d, broilers were sacrificed to collect digesta from the crop, gizzard, duodenum, jejunum, ileum, and cecum. The activity of phytase was low in the PC and NC diets, which increased in the BU diet and increased further in the GBU diet. A similar trend was observed in the crop digesta; however, the phytase activity in the crop digesta of BU and GBU diets was marginally lower when compared with that in each diet. These values decreased sharply when the digesta moved to the gizzard, and then decreased gradually. The ileal digesta exhibited significantly low activity with negligible effect of dietary treatment. The result of two-way analysis of variance with germination and digestive tract parts as main factors showed that the effect of digestive tract parts and interaction between factors was significant on the phytase activity in digesta. The dietary BU and GBU did not affect the ileal crude protein digestibility; however, it increased the ileal phytate P digestibility. These results suggest that in broilers, the crop might be the primary site of phytate degradation by buckwheat phytase, and the buckwheat might have negligible adverse effect on ileal digestibility of nutrients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To determine whether buckwheat phytase can be used as an alternative phytase source, growth performance, bone quality and P retention were measured in broilers given non-phytate P-deficient diets. Non-germinated (BU) and germinated (GBU) buckwheat were used: they were ground and sieved to remove hulls before use. A total of 120 male broiler chicks (8 d of age) were divided into 8 groups (15 birds each) and given one of the following 8 diets until 42 d of age: positive control (PC) diet satisfying recommended level of all nutrients, negative control (NC) diet formulated to contain 0.16% lower non-phytate P than PC diet, and six other diets, formulated by replacing maize in NC diet with BU or GBU at 10%, 15% and 20% concentrations. Starter diets contained 23.5% crude protein (CP) and 3,200 kcal of ME/kg, and were used for 8-21 d of age. Then, grower diets with 20.5% CP and 3,250 kcal of ME/kg, and were provided for 22-42 d of age. Compared with the PC group, NC group showed impaired growth performance (BW gain, FI, and FCR), and bone quality (dry weight, breaking strength and contents of ash and P in tibia). However, in most cases, these impairments were ameliorated dose-dependently by the addition of BU and GBU in diets, and the restoration magnitude was greater in GBU than in BU treatment. Total P excretion decreased in NC group and further decreased dose-dependently with increasing levels of BU and GBU. Except for the values in PC group, total P retention increased as the total P excretion decreased. In conclusion, dietary BU and GBU restored the growth performance and bone quality impaired by the P deficiency, and improved P retention in broilers, which suggested that buckwheat, especially when germinated, can be used as an alternative phytase source in broiler diets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]