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Protective effects of dietary synbiotic supplementation on meat quality and oxidative status in broilers under heat stress

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Abstract

This study evaluated protective effects of synbiotic on meat quality and oxidative status of breast muscle in heat-stressed broilers. Twenty 2-day-old broilers were allocated in a 2×2 factorial design, and the main factors consisted of synbiotic level (0 (basal diet) or 1.5 g/kg synbiotic) and temperature (thermoneutral or high temperature), resulting in 4 treatments. From 22 to 42 days, chickens were raised at thermoneutral temperature (22 °C) or subjected to cyclic high temperature (heat stress, HS) by keeping them at 32–33 °C for 8 h and 22 °C for rest 16 h daily. Cyclic HS decreased relative weight, redness (45 min), and pH values (45 min and 24 h) but increased contents of moisture and ether extract, lightness (45 min and 24 h), drip loss (24 h and 48 h), and cooking loss in breast muscle of broilers compared with those under thermoneutral temperature. It also increased malondialdehyde content and mRNA abundances of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) and HSP90 but decreased glutathione (GSH) concentration and activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), as well as mRNA abundances of nuclear factor (erythroid 2)-like 2 (Nrf2), NAD(P)H quinone dehydrogenase 1 (NQO1), GSH-Px, and copper and zinc superoxide dismutase in breast muscle in broilers. Dietary synbiotic supplementation was effective in increasing weight and reducing lightness (45 min), drip loss (24 h and 48 h) and cooking loss of breast muscle in heat-stressed broilers compared with those fed the basal diet. It also reduced malondialdehyde content and HSP70 mRNA abundance and increased GSH-Px activity, GSH content, and mRNA abundances of Nrf2, NQO1 and GSH-Px in breast muscle of heat-stressed broilers. These results suggested that synbiotic supplementation at a level of 1.5 g/kg could ameliorate compromised meat quality and oxidative status in broilers under cyclic HS.

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Data availability

The component and source of the material (synbiotic) are presented in this paper, and the data generated or analyzed during this study are included in the paper.

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  1. Yueping Chen and Yefei Cheng contributed equally to this work.

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  1. College of Animal Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, People’s Republic of China

    Yueping Chen, Yefei Cheng, Mingfang Du & Yanmin Zhou

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  1. Yueping Chen
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Original draft preparation: Yueping Chen; formal analysis: Yueping Chen, Yefei Cheng, and Mingfang Du; editing and supervision: Prof. Yanmin Zhou

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Correspondence to Yanmin Zhou.

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All procedures involved in management and care of chickens in the present work were conducted under approval by Nanjing Agricultural University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (Certification No.: SYXK (Su) 2011-0036, 11 August 2015).

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Chen, Y., Cheng, Y., Du, M. et al. Protective effects of dietary synbiotic supplementation on meat quality and oxidative status in broilers under heat stress. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 30197–30206 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-12535-3

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