This study investigated the effect of dietary astaxanthin (AST) on the meat quality, antioxidant status, and immune response of chickens exposed to heat stress. Four hundred and eighty male broilers were assigned to four treatments including AST0, AST20, AST40, and AST80 with 0, 20, 40, and 80 ppm astaxanthin supplementation levels, respectively. There was a linear decrease of malondialdehyde (MDA) in leg muscle. Catalase and superoxide dismutase levels in the plasma were linearly increased. There was a linear increase in the level of total antioxidant capacity in the leg muscle. The 3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate reducing activity of leg muscle was significantly increased in the AST80 treatment. The AST40 treatment showed an increase in 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging capacity of leg muscles. Breast meat redness and yellowness were linearly increased. The astaxanthin-supplemented treatments exhibited lower drip loss and MDA concentration of leg muscle compared with the AST0 treatment at days 3 and 9 of storage. Supplementation of 40 or 80 mg/kg astaxanthin significantly decreased heat shock protein (HSP)27, HSP70, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and interleukin-6 expression in the livers. The feather corticosterone was significantly lower in the astaxanthin-supplemented treatments than in the AST0 treatment. In conclusion, astaxanthin decreased the hyperthermic stress level and improved meat quality, and antioxidant status of chickens exposed to heat stress.

Deep sea water (DSW) has health benefits and is widely used as food supplement; however, its effect in fermented products has not been explored. Here, we investigated the effect of DSW-containing yogurt on health-related serum parameters and intestinal microbiota in mice. Animals were assigned to 3 feeding groups, which received water (control), normal yogurt (N-yogurt), or DSW-containing yogurt (DSW-yogurt) with a basal diet. Mice were killed at wk 4 or 8 of feeding and analyzed for serum parameters and microbial population in the small intestine. Both yogurt groups demonstrated increased populations of intestinal lactic acid bacteria compared with the control group. The activity of serum aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase was markedly decreased in the DSW-yogurt and N-yogurt groups, and triglyceride level tended to be lower in the DSW-yogurt group compared with that in the control mice. Furthermore, the DSW-yogurt group showed a more significant decrease in the ratio of total cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol than did the N-yogurt group. These findings suggest that DSW supplementation of yogurt can increase its beneficial effects on lipid metabolism.

Ethics approval (IRB/IACUC) (This field may be published.) This article does not require IRB/IACUC approval because there are no human and animal participants.

This study was executed to investigate the effects of drinking deep sea water treated by reverse osmosis process (RO-DSW) on growth performance, nutrient utilizability, relative weight of lymphoid organs and the concentration of serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) in broiler chickens. A total of 200 one day old broiler chickens (Ross 308) were equally and randomly distributed into 10 ground floor pens (20 chicks per pen, 5 pens per treatment) bedded with rice-husks. The broilers were offered either fresh tap water (Control) or RO-DSW for 28 days (from d 6 to d 33) as the drinking water. The same basal phase 1 diet for first 2 weeks and phase 2 diet for last 2 weeks were offered ad libitum to the birds. The RO-DSW was prepared by diluting 1:20 ratio with deionized water before offering to chickens. The diet for control birds was supplemented with 0.21 % of food-grade salt to satisfy salt need of the birds. Broiler feeding study resulted that there were no differences in amount of water consumption, mortality and FCR between RO-DSW and control chickens. However, feed intake and body weight gain were increased (p<0.05) by RO-DSW drinking. There was no (p>0.05) difference in nutrients utilizability between RO-DSW and fresh water drinking. There were no (p>0.05) differences in the immune response between the control and treatment group. The serum IgG levels were 3.01 vs 2.87 mg/ml and the relative weights of spleen, thymus and bursa of Fabricius were 0.23, 0.18 and 0.20 vs. 0.20, 0.17 and 0.14 for RO-DSW vs. control birds, respectively. The immune responses were tended to be improved by RO-DSW drinking. This study showed an improvement in weight gain and feed intake that could be induced by RO-DSW drinking, although it is difficult to explain the reasons of the improvement at this moment. This study implied that RO-DSW could be successfully used as drinking water to broiler chickens.

No abstract