Vet World   Vol.15   November-2022  Article-24

The effects of mulberry (Morus alba Linn.) leaf supplementation on growth performance, blood parameter, and antioxidant status of broiler chickens under high stocking density

Background and Aim: A stocking density system in boilers is well known for increasing productivity. However, this system increases stress and affects the growth performance of broilers. Mulberry is a valuable plant with therapeutic applications in traditional medicine; moreover, it reduces free radicals and improves growth performance in broilers. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of mulberry on the blood biochemistry parameters and the antioxidant status of broilers exposed to various raising systems.

Materials and Methods: Two hundred and seventy-six 3-week-old male broilers were randomly assigned to nine categories composed of three growing systems: Semi-intensive, low stocking density, and high stocking density. Each group was fed with a control diet mixed with and without 10% mulberry leaf extract; the positive control group was provided with vitamin C. During the study, phytochemical screening of mulberry leaf extract, growth performances, hematological parameters, and antioxidant profiles were measured over the 4 weeks of the treatment.

Results: In the high stocking density group, lipid peroxidation gradually increased while antioxidant activities decreased; however, the level of lipid peroxidation was reduced, whereas catalase and superoxide dismutase activities were significantly increased. The growth performance and blood biochemistry were improved after being fed with 10% mulberry leaf extract.

Conclusion: This finding indicates that mulberry leaf extract reduced oxidative stress, activated antioxidant enzyme activities, and enhanced broilers' growth performance when raised under stress conditions. Keywords: antioxidant, broiler chickens, growth performance, high stocking density, Morus alba, mulberry leaf.

Keywords: antioxidant, broiler chickens, growth performance, high stocking density, Morus alba, mulberry leaf.

How to cite this article: So-In C and Sunthamala N (2022) The effects of mulberry (Morus alba Linn.) leaf supplementation on growth performance, blood parameter, and antioxidant status of broiler chickens under high stocking density, Veterinary World, 15(11): 2715–2724.

Received: 09-08-2022  Accepted: 26-10-2022     Published online: 28-11-2022

Corresponding author: Nuchsupha Sunthamala   E-mail: nuchsupha.s@msu.ac.th

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2022.2715-2724

Copyright: So-In C and Sunthamala, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.