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Effects of Lactobacillus cultures on growth performance, xanthophyll deposition, and color of the meat and skin of broilers

N. H. Zhu^*,, R. J. Zhang^*,,1, H. Wu and B. Zhang

^* Laboratory of Feed Biotechnology, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China; College of Animal Science and Technology, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, Jiangxi 330045, China; and State Key Laboratory for Animal Nutrition, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China

¹ Corresponding author: zhangrj621{at}yahoo.com.cn

Two experiments were carried out to investigate the effects of Lactobacillus culture (LC) on growth performance and color of the meat and skin of broiler chickens. A total of 362 one-day-old Arbor Acres broilers were allocated to 7 treatments, with 7 strains of LC in experiment 1. The results showed significant differences in the color of shank skin and the growth performance of starter broilers among dietary supplements with different strains of LC. The effect of LC on xanthophyll deposition and color of the meat and skin of birds was evaluated with 1 strain of Lactobacillus MA (Lactobacillus salivarius) in experiment 2. A total of 208 one-day-old male Arbor Acres broiler chicks were randomly allocated into 4 treatments with 4 replicates each (13 birds per pen). Birds were fed a basal diet supplemented with 0, 0.1, 0.5, or 2.5% of L. salivarius cultures (LSC) from d 1 to 42. The results showed that Roche color fan scores of the shank skin were significantly increased at d 21 and 42 (P < 0.001) for chickens fed LSC. Xanthophyll content in the shank skin of birds provided feed supplemented with LSC was increased to 2.12 and 1.84 µg/10 mm² from 0.95 µg/10 mm² of the control group (P < 0.001). Yellowness (b*) values for thigh meat color were significantly increased for birds fed LSC (P < 0.05). It was concluded that dietary supplementation with LC increased the xanthophyll concentration in tissue and the Roche color fan scores of the shank skin of chickens.

Key Words: Lactobacillus culture • xanthophyll • shank color • broiler