Effect of dietary mugwort (<i>Artemisia vulgaris</i> L.) and pine needle powder (<i>Pinus densiflora</i>) on growth performance, serum cholesterol levels, and meat quality in broilers

Abstract

The effects of dietary mugwort and pine needle powder supplementation on growth performance, serum cholesterol, and meat quality of broilers were evaluated in a 35 days feed trial. 200 one day old broilers were randomly allocated to five dietary treatments (0, 1 and 2% mugwort or 1 and 2% pine needle powder) with four replicate pens of 10 birds per treatment. During the experimental period, growth performance did not differ among treatments (P > 0.05). The additives with mugwort and pine needle showed lower crude fat content of thigh muscle compared with the control (P < 0.05); however, no significant differences were detected for moisture, crude protein and crude ash content of thigh muscle. Compared with the control, total phenol content and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity were significantly increased (P < 0.05) with the inclusion of mugwort and pine needle powder level in the broilers’ diets, whereas pH values decreased (P < 0.05). Serum cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations were significantly decreased (P < 0.05) by the increased mugwort and pine needle powder level in the diet, except for high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol concentrations. For thigh meat color, inclusion of mugwort and pine needle powder decreased L* and b* values and increased a* values in thigh muscle of broilers compared with the controls (P < 0.05). Overall, the present study indicates the beneficial effect of using 1 or 2% mugwort and pine needle powder in reducing serum cholesterol and improving meat quality.
Key words: Mugwort, pine needle powder, serum cholesterol, meat quality.