-Recent studies have suggested that inulin might be utilized as a prebiotics for the promotion of antimicrobial growth, but a major obstacle to the use of inulin has been its low bifidogenic effects, which were initially observed in the ceca of broiler chickens. Inulin has some problems with related to denaturation in air and lowering passage rate from upper digestive tract to caecum. To solve this problems, a newly developed compound derived by microencapsulation, inuloprebiotics, was hypothesized to enrich cecal bifidobacterial populations and reduce the colonization levels of Salmonella in the ceca of broiler chickens. The in vitro growth of intestinal beneficial bacteria including Bifidobacterium longum, Bifidobacterium bifidum, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Lactobacillus casei grew effectively on the medium containing inulin, whereas the growth of Streptococcus aureus and Clostridium perfringens was not differences among the treatment groups. Broiler chickens consumed chow diets containing 0.5%, 0.7% or 1.0% inuloprebiotics, or a control diet without inuloprebiotics supplementation. The chickens on the inuloprebioticssupplemented diets evidenced significantly higher cecal levels of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus species as compared with the chickens on the control diet. The population of cecal E. coli and Salmonella was specifically reduced as the result of treatment with inuloprebiotics. However, we noted no significant differences in Bifidobacterium species, E. coli and Salmonella counts among the inuloprebiotics treatment groups. The inuloprebiotics-supplemented diets induced an increase in the serum IgG concentration. The thymus index was significantly increased in the broiler chickens that consumed diets containing 0.7% or 1.0% inuloprebiotics, with the exception of the chickens consuming the diet supplemented with 0.5% inuloprebiotics. These results indicate that the inuloprebiotic preparations exerted an immune system-promoting effect or selectively enriched the cecal Bifidobacterium species populations in the broiler chickens, and also suggest that inuloprebiotics may prove useful as a stable natural antimicrobial agent.

A 35-day trial was carried out to determine the influence of dietary cinnamon powder (CNP) on the sensory evaluation and quality of chicken meat, carcass characteristics, plasma lipid level and growth performance of broiler chickens. There were 5 treatment groups: control; CNP 2.0%; CNP 3.0%; CNP 4.0%; and CNP 5.0%. The body weight of the broilers fed the diets containing 3.0% CNP was higher than the broilers fed the control feeds (p<0.05). The concentration of triacylglyceride, HDL-C was higher in the plasma from broiler chickens fed diets with CNP (p<0.05) but the concentrations of total cholesterol and LDL-C were significantly lower (p<0.05) compared to the control group. The carcass percentage, chicken breast and thigh weight were not different between the CNP and control groups. The WHC was significantly higher in the chickens fed 4% CNP diet, while the TBARS was significantly lower (p<0.05) in the chickens fed 3% CNP diet compared to the control group. The color of the breast muscle from the chickens fed 3% CNP diet was lighter than those from the control groups (p<0.05). The sensory evaluation of the taste and savor related to CNP in fried or boiled chicken meat were significantly better from the broiler chicken fed diets containing CNP than the control group (p<0.05). These results suggest that dietary cinnamon powder may improve savor and quality of chicken meat in broiler chickens.

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