Effects of Capsaicin on Growth Performance, Meat Quality, Digestive Enzyme Activities, Intestinal Morphology, and Organ Indexes of Broilers

Abstract

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of capsaicin (CAP) on growth performance, meat quality, digestive enzyme activities, intestinal morphology, and organ indexes of broilers. A total of 256 one-day-old Arbor Acre male broilers were randomly allocated into four treatments with eight replicates of eight birds, feeding a basal diet (control group), a basal diet supplemented with 2, 4, and 6 mg/kg CAP for 42 d, respectively. The growth performance, digestive enzyme activities of intestinal contents, small intestinal morphology, and organ indexes were measured at 21 and 42 d. The meat quality traits of breast muscles were determined at 42 d. The results showed dietary 4 mg/kg CAP supplementation decreased (P < 0.05) the feed to gain ratio (F/G) in the grower phase (22–42 d) and overall (1–42 d) compared with the control group, and 2 mg/kg CAP group also decreased (P < 0.05) the F/G from 1 to 42 d. Dietary 4 mg/kg CAP supplementation decreased (P < 0.05) the drip loss at 48 h and the pH24h of breast muscles relative to the control group. Some digestive enzymes activities of jejunal and ileal contents were increased in the 2 and 4 mg/kg CAP groups compared with the control group both at 21 and 42 d. In addition, dietary 2 mg/kg CAP supplementation increased (P < 0.05) the relative weight of liver, jejunal villus height, villus width, and villous surface area at 21 d; The length of the jejunum segment and the relative weight of Bursa of Fabricius at 42 d in the 4 mg/kg CAP group were higher (P < 0.05) than the control group. In conclusion, dietary 2 or 4 mg/kg CAP supplementation decreased the F/G, improved meat quality, enhanced digestive enzyme activities, improved the jejunal development, and increased the relative liver and Bursa of Fabricius weight in broilers.

Safety assessment of the functional feed additive phenylcapsaicin in a commercial broiler diet

“…This contrasts the effects found in Arbor Acre male broilers where the addition of 80 mg/kg pure natural capsaicin extract increased both averaged daily weight gain and final body weight in both the starter (d 1-21) and grower (d 22-42) periods, 16 and both 2 and 4 mg/kg decreased the FCR in the entire growth period (d 1-42). 14 Dietary inclusion of 10, 15, and 150 mg PheCap/kg feed resulted in lower mortality rates. Due to these lower mortality rates, EPEF of the 10 and 15 mg PheCap/kg feed treatment groups was significantly higher than the control group, with the highest numerical value in the 15 mg/kg feed group.…”

“…This contrasts the effects found in Arbor Acre male broilers where the addition of 80 mg/kg pure natural capsaicin extract increased both averaged daily weight gain and final body weight in both the starter (d 1–21) and grower (d 22–42) periods, 16 and both 2 and 4 mg/kg decreased the FCR in the entire growth period (d 1–42). 14…”

“…These effects were not found for 6 mg capsaicin/kg feed. 14 A concentration of 80 mg/kg feed improved meat quality, nutrient digestibility, growth performance as well as antioxidant status and immune function. 16 In female Longyan laying ducks, at a concentration of 150 mg/kg feed, egg production increased due to improved follicular growth and maturation, and higher antioxidant capacity was found.…”

“…Few studies on the performance and toxicological effects of high-purity capsaicin on poultry are available in the literature 14 as most studies examined the effect of capsaicinoid powder or capsicum oleoresin. The results from these studies might not be directly transferable to the effects of high-purity capsaicin and PheCap in poultry because of effects related to differences in active substances between pepper breeding lines, purity profiles, harvest time and drying methods.…”

Enhancement of intestinal mucosal immunity and immune response to the foot-and-mouth disease vaccine by oral administration of danggui buxue decoction

“…The spleen, thymus, and liver are the most important immune organs in mammals, and the quality of animal immune organs is increased by their proliferation caused by cell growth and division. Therefore, the weight is proportional to the immune function of the body ( 19 , 20 ). In this study, it was found that the organ index of mice after gavage of different doses of DBD was not significantly different from that of the control group, but the 0.5 g/ml and 2 g/ml dose groups were superior to the control group.…”