Hipocholesterolemic and antioxidant properties of bixin in broiler diets

Abstract

Three experiments will be conducted in order to evaluate the effects of bixin in broiler diets and their influence on performance, meat quality and preservation, blood parameters and blood and intestinal oxidative status. In experiment I, it will be used 1080 Cobb broiler chicks; the experimental design will be completely randomized, with six treatments and six replications of 30 birds each. The treatments will be 0%; 0.05%; 0.10%; 0.15%, 0.20% and 0.25% of bixin added to the feed, formulated without synthetic antioxidant. In experiment II it will be used 1200 Cobb broiler chicks; the experimental design will be completely randomized in a factorial 3x2+2, with eight treatments and five replications of 30 birds each. The treatments will be: diet without bixin supplementation, diets with bixin supplementation in two levels: level with the best results in experiment I and the double value x diet with fresh or oxidized soybean oil + diets with BHT and fresh or oxidized soybean oil (positive controls). Analysis will be done on performance, blood (blood count, lipid oxidation, cholesterol, HDL and triglycerides) and meat quality (pH, color, drip loss, cooking loss, shear force, cholesterol and lipid oxidation). In experiment II it will be also done analysis of lipid oxidation in the small intestine. The experiment III will consist of two assays to determine the apparent metabolizable energy (AME) and the corrected apparent nitrogen metabolizable energy (AMEn) (14 to 21 days and 28 to 35 days of age), using 120 Cobb broiler chicks each one. The experimental design will be completely randomized in a factorial 3x2+2, with eight treatments and five replications of 3 birds, and the treatments will be the same used in experiment II. The statistical analysis will be done with the Statistical Analysis System (SAS, 2002). (AU)