Research On Animal Production

An experiment was carried out to evaluate the effects of different levels of cinnamon powder on performance, antioxidant status and meat oxidative stability in broiler chickens. Four hundred fifty day-old broilers (Ross 308) were divided into three experimental treatments (with three levels of 0, ­0.1 and 0.2% of Cinnamon powder in diets) in a completely randomized design. Each treatment had five replications including 30 chicks. The growth performance parameters were determined weekly. Blood parameters including; plasma glucose, protein, red blood cell, hemoglobin, hematocrit, uric acid, cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL, enzymes activity including; ALT, AST, LDH and ALP and antioxidant parameters including; MDA in liver, plasma and TAS were determined at day 21 and 42. It is also, the meat oxidative stability was determined as deference MDA in meat at slaughter days and 15 after slaughter. The results showed that, both levels of cinnamon (0.1% and 0.2%) increased feed intake and body weight. It is also, Cinnamon levels reduced plasma AST enzyme activity, MDA in liver, plasma and meat(P≤0.05).Moreover, Cinnamon levels, significantly, reduced cholesterol and triglyceride in plasma at day 42. No mortality was observed with cinnamon. The other blood parameters were not affected significantly by treatments (P≥0.05). It can be, supplementation 0.2% cinnamon powder in diets could improve body weight gain, reduced mortality and increased meat oxidative stability in broilers.