Effects of Gynura procumbens extract supplementation on growth performance, carcass traits, antioxidant capacity, immunity and meat quality of meat ducks

Gaoxiang Ai; Pingwen Xiong; Jiang Chen; Wenjing Song; Qiongli Song; Chuanhui Xu; Weide Su; Zhiheng Zou; Qipeng Wei; Xiaolian Chen

doi:10.3389/fvets.2024.1508048

Effects of Gynura procumbens extract supplementation on growth performance, carcass traits, antioxidant capacity, immunity and meat quality of meat ducks

Front Vet Sci. 2024 Dec 13:11:1508048. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1508048. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Gaoxiang Ai^#^{1

2}, Pingwen Xiong^#^{1

2}, Jiang Chen^{1

2}, Wenjing Song^{1

2}, Qiongli Song^{1

2}, Chuanhui Xu^{1

2}, Weide Su^{1

2}, Zhiheng Zou^{1

2}, Qipeng Wei^{1

2}, Xiaolian Chen^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science, Jiangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanchang, China.
² Jiangxi Province Key Laboratory of Animal Green and Healthy Breeding, Nanchang, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Introduction: Gynura procumbens (Lour.) Merr is a common traditional Chinese medicine with anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. However, no related studies reported the potential application effect of Gynura procumbens on meat ducks. The study aims to investigate the potential effects of Gynura procumbens extract (GPE) supplementation on growth performance, carcass traits, antioxidant capacity, immunity and meat quality.

Methods: A total of 480 21-day-old female healthy ducks were randomly allocated to four treatments, each treatment containing six replicates with 20 ducks per replicate. The groups received a corn-soybean basal diet supplemented with 0 mg/kg GPE (CON), 200 mg/kg GPE (GPE200), 400 mg/kg GPE (GPE400), and 600 mg/kg GPE (GPE600), respectively. The entire experiment lasted for 7 weeks.

Results: The results showed that dietary supplementation with 600 mg/kg GPE significantly reduced the contents of serum urea nitrogen, triglyceride (TG) and total cholesterol (TC). GPE (200, 400, and 600 mg/kg) supplementation effectively reduced the contents of IL-2 and MDA. The levels of immunoglobulin M (IgM) as well as total antioxidative capacity (T-AOC) in GPE600 group dramatically elevated in comparison with the control group. Dietary GPE supplementation considerably increased the moisture content of the breast muscle. Furthermore, dietary supplementation with GPE markedly decreased the water loss rate and shear force.

Discussion: With the ban of antibiotics in poultry production, traditional Chinese medicines have been widely used in livestock and poultry production due to their high efficiency and low toxicity. Gynura procumbens extract GPE as a natural plant origin contains a series of biologically active components, including flavonoids, polyphenols, saponin, tannin and terpenoid. This study indicated that dietary supplementation with GPE can increase serum total antioxidant capacity, regulate immune function and improve meat quality to some extent in meat ducks. The recommended optimal GPE level in the diet of meat ducks is 600 mg/kg according to the results in this study.

Keywords: Gynura procumbens extract; antioxidant capacity; immunity; meat ducks; meat quality.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The work was supported by grants from Jiangxi Province Key Research and Development Program (20224BBF62003), the Earmarked Fund for Modern Agro-industry Technology Research System of China (CARS-42-43), Jiangxi Province Modern Agricultural Poultry Industry Technical System of China (JXARS-09) and Gan-Po Talented Youth Support Program • the High-level and High-skill Leading Talent Training Project of Jiangxi Province (2023).