Proximate composition, cholesterol concentration and lipid oxidation of meat from chickens fed dietary spice addition (Allium sativum, Piper nigrum, Capsicum annuum)

Introduction

Spices and medicinal plants as a natural foodstuffs appeal to all who question safety of synthetic food additives and demand high-quality products that at the same time are safe and stable (Hedayati et al. 2013). Quality and healthfulness were reported to be some of the most important factors influencing consumer choice of food. Interest in plants, plant extracts and derived phytochemicals as dietary additives for poultry has increased during the past decades (Khan et al. 2012; Puvaca et al. 2013). Moreover, spice herbs and aromatic plants possess many antioxidants that are effective in preventing oxidative changes and, thus, can minimise off-odour production in meat (Najafi and Torki 2010). The use of nutritional strategies in improving the proximate meat quality is a relatively new approach that has emerged at the interface of animal and food science from the fact that antibiotics as synthetic growth promoters have been banded for use. Nutritional approaches are often more effective than is direct addition of the additive to meat since the compound is preferably deposited where it is most needed (Govaris et al. 2004). The physiological ability to store excess energy or caloric intake in the form of fat is a trait that confers numerous advantages across the biological spectrum. Fat is the most efficient way for living organisms to store excess energy. Moreover, fat excludes water, which can account for much of the mass of stored glycogen, the major starch and storage form of glucose in the body (Lawrence 2010). Saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids are common in animal fats, such as meat products (Ljubojevic et al. 2015). Monounsaturated fatty acids are also abundant in certain vegetable oils. Monounsaturated oils are touted as the most favourable in the diet because they do not raise cholesterol as much as do saturated fats and they are less susceptible to spontaneous oxidation than are the polyunsaturated fatty acids (Puvaca et al. 2014b). Through the ages cholesterol has evolved into an essential component of animals, being metabolised into a wide range of useful substances in the body such as steroid hormones, vitamin D and bile salts, which acts as detergents in the digestive system, emulsifying oils and fats to make it easier for lipases to do their job (Konjufca et al. 1997). Poultry are able to synthesise cholesterol from nutrients such as fatty acids, carbohydrates, or even protein, depending on the diet and the relative availability of each of these nutrient precursors (Shirzadegan and Falahpour 2014). Cholesterol is constantly being moved as it is needed in one organ or another for many vital processes (Asztalos et al. 2000). Nearly 50% of the mass of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is composed of cholesterol, and LDL seems to be the lipoprotein that is most prone to spontaneous oxidation (Chen et al. 2008). Oxygen is essential for survival, and the reaction with oxygen is known as oxidation (Ciftci et al. 2010), but beside its essentiality for life, it can cause damage to various cells (Min and Ahn 2005). Three sensory and quality characteristics such as colour, texture and flavour are the main attributes affecting meat consumer acceptance, and lipid peroxidation is the primary cause of these quality deteriorations in meat and meat products (Kostadinovic et al. 2015). Lipid peroxidation primarily occurs through a free radical chain reaction, and oxygen is the most important factor on the development of lipid peroxidation in meat (Ahn et al. 1993; Laudadio and Tufarelli 2011), through a free radical chain reaction that comprises three primary steps, namely, initiation, propagation and termination (Min and Ahn 2005). Lipid oxidation is an important determinant of shelf life of meat and meat products. Antioxidants are natural or synthetic substances used to prevent lipid oxidation.Meat protection, primarily against lipid components, is possible by adding antioxidants to feed mixtures (Marcincák et al. 2005). This is a simple way to ensure oxidative stability of meat fats during the post-slaughter processing of carcasses and storage of meat.

On the basis of previous considerations, the aim of our experiment was to investigate the influence of garlic, black pepper and hot red pepper powders as natural-antioxidant dietary supplements in broiler chicken rations on meat proximate composition, cholesterol concentration and lipid oxidation.

Materials and methods

Animal housing and nutrition

Biological tests with chickens were carried out under production conditions at the experimental farm ‘Pustara’ at the Faculty of Agriculture in Novi Sad, Serbia. At the beginning of the experiment, a total of 1200 day-old Hubbard strain broilers were equally distributed into eight dietary treatments, with four replicates each. Dietary treatments in the experiments were as follows: CON (control diet), G-0.5 (garlic powder 0.5 g/100 g diet), G-1.0 (garlic powder 1.0 g/100 g), BP-0.5 (black pepper powder 0.5 g/100 g), BP-1.0 (black pepper powder 1.0 g/100 g), HRP-0.5 (hot red pepper 0.5 g/100 g), HRP-1.0 (hot red pepper 1.0 g/100 g) and MX-0.5 (mixture of spices at the ratio of 1 : 1 : 1 in total amount of 0.5 g/100 g). Feeding program included a three-phase diet as starter, grower and finisher, respectively (Table 1). During the whole trial, feed and water were provided ad libitum. Rearing and housing conditions were as previously described in detail by Puvaca et al. (2015).

Sample collections

At the end of 42nd day of the experiment, 12 broiler chickens, six male and six female of an average bodyweight of eachtreatment group were selected for meat-quality evaluations. Before slaughtering, broiler chickens were starved for 12 h. On slaughter, dressed cold carcasses were dissected into primal cuts such as breast, thighs with drumsticks, wings, back, head, neck and legs, followingthe method prescribed bythe Regulation on Poultry Meat Quality (Official Gazette of the SFRY No. 1/81 and 51/88 1988). After 24 h post-mortem, samples of breast (Musculus pectoralis) and thigh with drumstick (Tibialis anterior and Biceps femoris), skin (from breast and thigh with drumstick) and liver (right lobe) were further analysed for their proximate composition, cholesterol concentration and lipid oxidation.

Proximate-composition analyses

Proximate composition of breast, thigh with drumstick, skin and liver were determined according to the ISO recommended standards for moisture (ISO 1442 1997), protein (ISO 937 1978), fat (ISO 1443 1973) and ash (ISO 936 1998) contents. Moisture content of selected tissues was determined after drying the samples at 105 C for 24 h to constant weight. Crude protein concentration was determined by Kjeldahl method, and ash was determined after burning at 550 25 C. Crude fat in chicken tissues was analysed using the Soxhlet apparatus (SigmaAldrich, Buchs SG, Switzerland) with ether as a solvent. Data presented are means of 12 measurements.

Proximate composition, cholesterol concentration and lipid oxidation of meat from chickens fed dietary spice addition (Allium sativum, Piper nigrum, Capsicum annuum) - Image 1

Analyses of cholesterol concentration

Standard solution of cholesterol (analytical standard min. 99.9%, Lot. No.: 01106ME-207, Sigma-Aldrich, Hamburg, Germany) was prepared dissolving 10 mg of standard into 100 mL of hexane. This stock solution was used to prepare a series of standard solutions for calibration curve. The cholesterol extraction and the clean-up procedure were performed according to the method described by Carnevale de Almeida et al. (2006), with slight modifications. Briefly, ~2 g of sample was saponificated with 4 mL of 50% potassium hydroxide and 6 mL of 95% ethanol. The tubes were vortexed thoroughly after addition of each component, and then heated for 10 min at 60 C. After this, 5 mL of water was added and the samples were cooled. The non-saponifiable fraction was extracted three times using 10 mL of hexane. The hexane phase was evaporated to dryness using Rotavapor (Yamato Scientific America Inc., Santa Clara, CA, USA) at 28 C. The dry residue was dissolved in 1 mL of hexane and filtered through 0.45 mm pore size PTFE filter (GORE® Filtration Products, Plano, TX, USA) in vial before high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. HPLC studies were performed using an Agilent 1200 system (GenTech Scientific Inc., Arcade, NY, USA) equipped with a UV-visible detector (DAD), binary pump, a vacuum degasser and an auto sampler. System control and data analysis were processed with Chemstation Software (Agilent Technologies, GenTech Scientific Inc., Arcade, NY, USA). The chromatographic column Zorbax RX-SIL (1.8 mm particle size, 100 mm · 2.1 mm internal diameter) was obtained by Agilent (GenTech Scientific Inc., Arcade, NY, USA). The column was washed in hexane by isocratic elution at a flow-rate of 0.5 mL/min. The injection volume was 5 mL. The spectra were recorded at a wavelength of a 210 nm. The compounds were identified by chromatographic comparisons with authentic standards and against UV spectra comparison using a DAD detector. Quantification was based on the use of a calibration curve.

Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) assay

One gram each of the excised broiler breast, thigh with drumstick and liver was minced with scissors and homogenised in an ultraturax in three volumes of isotonic buffer (0.05 mol/L tris–HCl, 0.25 mol/L sucrose, pH = 7.5). The homogenates was filtered through gauze into ice-cold tubes and collected for further analysis (Chiu et al. 1976). The oxidative stability of broiler tissues was determined by using TBARS assay. Tissue homogenates (0.2 mL) were transferred into the tube and 2 mL of a tribromoanisole and 2,4,6-trichloroanisaole solution was added. The mixture was put in the mixer and 1.05 mL of ccHCl was added. Afterwards, the tube was filled with distilled water up to 50 mL. The mixture was incubated in a boiling water bath for 15 min to develop colour. After colour development, the samples were cooled in cold water for 10 min and then centrifuged for 10 min at 3000g. Spectrophotometric measurement was performed at 536 nm. The TBARS concentration was expressed in mg malondialdehyde (MDA) per kg of tissue.

Statistical analyses

Statistical analyses were conducted using statistical software program Statistica 12 for Windows (StatSoft, Inc., Tulsa, OK, USA), to determine whether variables differed among treatments. Significant effects were further evaluated using ANOVA, leastsquare means (LSM) and standard errors of least-square means (SELSM). Fisher’s l.s.d. post-hoc multiple-range test with Bonferroni corrections was used to ascertain differences among treatments. A significance level of P = 0.05 was used.

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Results and discussion

Proximate composition

The results given in Table 2 show that there were no significant (P > 0.05) differences in moisture content in both breast and thigh with drumstick meat. The highest concentration of protein in breast meat was observed in Treatment BP-1.0, which was significantly (P < 0.05) different from Treatments G-0.5, CON and HRP-1.0. The lowest amount of fat was observed in Treatment BP-1.0. This was expected, considering the negative correlations between the concentrations of protein and fat. The highest fat concentration in breast meat was recorded in the control treatment, which was significantly (P < 0.05) different from the other treatments. Meat ash concentration was almost the same in all groups, but with significant differences (P < 0.05) between individual dietary treatments.

The highest concentration of protein in thigh with drumstick was observed in the dietary treatment with addition of hot red pepper (HRP-1.0). It is interesting to notice that the same treatment also contained highest concentration of fat, together with Treatment G-0.5. This could be explained by the influence of capsaicin as the active compound in hot red pepper on the metabolism of fat and the highest utilisation from the feed which is incorporated in the body. The lowest concentration of protein in thigh with drumstick, as in the breast meat, was observed in control treatment, with the fat concentration of 2.59 g/100 g, which could be a sign of a positive influence of dietary spice-herb addition on the nutritive quality of chicken meat. From the results presented in Table 3, unlike for breast and thigh with drumstick, significant (P < 0.05) differences in moisture content of skin and liver can be observed. The highest concentration of skin protein was observed in Treatments BP-0.5 and BP-1.0, which were significantly (P < 0.05) different from Treatments CON, MX-0.5 and HRP-0.5. The lowest concentration of skin fat was observed in Treatment HRP-0.5, while the highest skin fat concentration was recorded in control treatments CON and G-0.5, which were significantly (P < 0.05) different from the other treatments.

The highest concentration of protein in liver was observed in the dietary treatment including dietary spice-herb mixture (MX-0.5), while the lowest was observed in the experimental treatment BP-0.5. As for the thigh and drumstick, the same tendency was observed for the liver fat concentration. In our experiment, moisture content of meat from breast and thigh with drumstick was almost equal among dietary treatments, while the content of moisture in skin and liver showed significant differences. Similarly, Gardzielewska et al. (2003) reported that broiler chicken feed supplementation with echinacea, garlic and ginger resulted in no effect on meat moisture content. In the present trial, the highest protein concentration of breast and thigh with drumstick meat was observed in Treatments BP-1.0 and HRP-1.0, respectively. The highest protein concentration of skin and liver was also observed in treatments with black pepper powder, as well as in MX-0.5 treatment. From this fact, it can be noticed that the dietary addition of black pepper and hot red pepper to chicken ration led to significant improvement of proximate meat, skin and liver quality. In a previous study by Puvaca et al. (2014a), addition of garlic powder to chicken diet at a concentration of 2.0 g/100 g resulted in improved protein content (22.9 g/100 g) in breast meat compared with unsupplemented diet (21.8 g/100 g). Souza et al. (2011) reported that protein concentration of chicken breast meat ranged from 22.48 to 22.61 g/100 g without significant differences. Majewska et al. (2009) reported that concentration of protein of ostrich meat was influenced by the different muscle patties. Onibi et al. (2009) reported a significant influence of spice herbs in broiler nutrition on fat content, where the thigh muscle had the highest fat concentration (82.9 g/kg), followed by drumstick muscle (66.9 g/kg), whereas the breast muscle had the lowest (49.1 g/kg). Lowest fat concentration of breast meat in the current study was recorded in chickens fed 1.0 g/100 g of black pepper powder and in red meat of chicken fed with mixture of garlic, black pepper and hot red pepper powder at 0.5 g/100 g. Similarly, fat deposition has been reported to be higher in red meat than in breast meat (Onibi 2006). It seems that the skin has the highest concentration of fat deposition. The highest fat concentration in skin was observed in the control treatment and lower level of garlic powder treatment. Investigation of Ogunmola et al. (2013) showed a differing fat concentration in poultry, ranging from 3.70% in chickens to 18.1% in turkeys. Marcincáková et al. (2011) investigated the influence of dietary supplementation of Melissa officinalis and combination of Achillea millefolium and Crataegus oxyacantha in chicken ration on meat quality and reported no significant influence on fat concentration in breast meat, while a significant decrease in the fat concentration of thigh meat was observed. Addition of black pepper powder in diet had high influence on ash content of breast meat, as well as did the addition of dietary spice-herb mixture on liver ash concentration.

Cholesterol concentration

Significant (P < 0.05) influence of dietary garlic, black pepper and hot red pepper on cholesterol concentration of breast, thigh with drumstick, skin and liver is shown in Table 4. The highest concentration of cholesterol was observed in breast, thigh with drumstick, skin and liver of chickens fed the control treatment

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The lowest concentration of cholesterol in breast meat was observed in chickens from treatments with a higher inclusion of spice herbs at 1.0 g/100 g of black pepper, hot red pepper and garlic, with no significant (P > 0.05) differences among them, but significant (P < 0.05) if compared with other treatments. Addition of spice herbs to chicken diet at lower concentrations resulted also in a significant (P < 0.05) reduction of cholesterol in breast meat, compared with control dietary treatment. The highest influence in lowering cholesterol concentration in thigh with drumstick was found in treatments with higher levels of spice addition, followed by the spice-mixture treatment. As in breast meat, significant (P < 0.05) differences were observed also in red meat. All spice herbs led to significant (P < 0.05) reduction in skin cholesterol concentration, and the highest reduction was recorded in Treatment HRP-1.0. As the main target organ for the studies of xenobiotic, liver showed the highest cholesterol deposition compared with breast meat, thigh with drumstick and skin. Among all dietary spice-herb treatments from T2 to T8, a statistically significant (P < 0.05) reduction of cholesterol, compared with control treatment, was observed. The available literature is limited regarding changes in muscle cholesterol due to the effect of cholesterol-reducing agents such as black pepper and hot red pepper, especially in poultry. Konjufca et al. (1997) reported higher cholesterol concentrations in thigh than breast meat when garlic powder was added to chicken feed. A possible explanation could be that the cholesterol is usually associated with adipose tissue, which is more abundant in thigh than in breast meat. Moreover, thigh meat has a much greater content of slow-twitch fibres than has breast meat, which has many more big mitochondria, and the metabolic rate of slow-twitch fibres is much faster in comparison to fast-twitch fibres. In our experiment, garlic powder significantly decreased cholesterol concentrations in breast meat, thigh with drumstick, skin and liver compared with control treatment, while the peppers had avhigher influence than did garlic. Other researchers have also confirmed the positive influence of dietary garlic powder in broiler nutrition on reduction of cholesterol concentrations in meat (Stanacev et al. 2012) and blood (Shahriari et al. 2009; Issa and Abo Omar 2012; Puvaca et al. 2015). Results have shown a high effect of lowering cholesterol by black pepper powder. Under the influence of black pepper, cholesterol concentration in breast meat, thigh with drumstick, skin and liver were reduced significantly (P < 0.05), compared with the control and garlic treatments, but with no significant differences compared with hot red pepper treatments, except in skin and liver. These positive effects of black and hot red pepper can be attributed to several antioxidative compounds (Nabil Alloui et al. 2014). Next to the antioxidative compounds black pepper constituents include essential oils (a- and b-pinene, limonene, and b-caryophyllene), piperine, eugenol, the enzyme lipase and minerals (Singletary 2010). In the present study, it was confirmed that black pepper lowers cholesterol in tissues of chicken, while others (Shahverdi et al. 2013; Abou-Elkhair et al. 2014) have confirmed lowering effects on cholesterol in blood and serum of chickens. Al-Kassie et al. (2011) reported that the black pepper in concentrations of 0.50%, 0.75% and 1.0% in broiler diet depressed the concentrations of cholesterol, haemoglobin and red blood cells and the ratio of H : L (heterophils/lymphocytes-ratio). The greatest lowering effect of cholesterol in our study was observed with dietary hot red pepper and spice mixtures. Hot red pepper (HRP-1.0) reduced cholesterol concentration the most in breast meat, thigh with drumstick, skin and liver. Lower amount of hot red pepper (HRP-0.5) also showed significant lowering effect compared with the control and garlic powder treatments. Dietary spice mixture (MX-0.5) also showed a significant cholesterollowering effect in white and red meat, as well in skin tissue and liver. All dietary spices in the present experiment showed a positive influence on investigated traits, where the dietary increase of spices increased the cholesterol reduction potential. Interesting fact is that the lower concentration of dietary spice mixture had almost the same influence as did the higher concentration of individual spices, or even a greater influence. This can lead to a conclusion that these specific spices act synergistically. The obtained results on meat cholesterol are in accordance with the results of Al-Kassie et al. (2012) who used hot red and black pepper separately and in combination. The same authors stated that addition of these spices to broiler diet led to a reduction in the concentration of cholesterol, red blood cells and whole blood count and the ratio of H : L. The results of Shahverdi et al. (2013) showed that the inclusion of hot red pepper in broiler diet decreased cholesterol, triglyceride and glucose concentrations and the H : L ratio in broiler blood plasma, which is in accordance with the earlier investigation of Al-Kassie et al. (2011). Hot red pepper showed the best cholesterol-lowering effect in the present experiment. Advantage of hot red pepper in broiler nutrition is that the chickens can consume capsaicin without an adverse effect on feed intake due to their insensitivity to the irritant of capsaicinon sensory neurons and lack of vanilloid receptors for capsaicin.

Lipid oxidation

Table 5 shows breast and thigh with drumstick meat and liver antioxidant indices of broiler chickens. The concentration of MDA was significantly lower (P < 0.05) in the treatments supplemented with different levels of dietary spice herbs than in the control treatment. Concentration ofMDAin all investigated tissues was significantly (P < 0.05) affected by dietary treatments. Inthis experiment,lipid peroxidationintissues of broiler chickens fed diet supplemented with garlic, black pepper and hot red pepper powder was significantly lower (P < 0.05) than in tissues of broiler chickens in CON treatment. Additionally, MDA concentration decreased with increasing level of spice herbs in feed. This showed that the presence of spice herbs has an impact of lowering lipid peroxidation. These measurements were used since they reflect the effect of garlic, black pepper and hot red pepper on antioxidant activities. First, MDA can endogenously reflect lipid peroxidation, which is the consequence of diminished antioxidant protection as the concentrations of reactive oxygen species (ROS) increase. Dietary addition of black pepper to chicken ration showed the highest reduction in MDA concentration in tissues (P < 0.05). The digestive tract itself is considered to be a major site of freeradical production in poultry and some of them might be delivered via portal blood system into the liver and meat. In present study, results showed that dietary spice herbs have an effect on the liver function and the concentration of MDA in liver and meat. The reported results indicated that these spices have meat- and liver-protective effects.

Lipids are an important component of meat and contribute to several desirable sensory characteristics of meat and meat products. Lipids enhance the flavour and aroma profile of meat and also increase the tenderness and juiciness (Gorelik et al. 2008). However, it is generally accepted that lipid oxidation is the primary process responsible for quality deterioration of meat during storage. In present experiment, spice herbs showed a positive influence in lowering lipid oxidation process, especially with addition of black pepper powder. Recently, Kostadinovic et al. (2015) reported that the concentration of MDA was significantly lower and GSHPx activity higher in the group supplemented with medicinal plant (Artemisia absinthium) than in unsupplemented group, and found lower lipid peroxidation in blood and plasma of broiler chickens fed diet supplemented with this medicinal plant. All meat and fish products are prone to oxidation. Among meat products, poultry meat is considered to be more prone to the development of oxidative rancidity than is red meat. This fact can be explained by the higher content of phospholipids in poultry meat. It has been demonstrated that oxidation of meat starts by a peroxidation of the phospholipid fraction. Due to the high degree of polyunsaturated lipids, the phospholipids are most prone to oxidation. The lowest concentration of MDA in breast meat, thigh with drumstick and liver was observed in Treatment BP-1.0, whereas the highest was observed in the control treatment. Lipid oxidation reduces meat quality by several ways, including, for example, off-flavour formation, drip loss and colour changes. During lipid oxidation, polyunsaturated fatty acids are degraded to volatile short-chain oxidation products, which lead to off-odour and off-flavour formation (Jensen et al. 1998). Oxidative processes can also affect the ability of the membranes to hold water and may contribute to drip loss (Weber and Antipatis 2001). In the present study, it has been shown that the dietary addition of spice herbs to chicken ration can serve as natural antioxidants, playing an important role in meat stability. Feeding poultry with higher level of natural dietary antioxidants provides the poultry industry with a simple method for improvement of the oxidative stability, sensory quality, shelf life and acceptability of poultry meats. Additionally, MDA concentration decreased with increasing concentration of spice herbs in feed. This showed that the presence of spice herbs has an impact of lowering lipid peroxidation. Results of thiobarbituric value method showed that supplementation with lemon balm, and mainly the combination of hawthorn and yarrow in broiler diet influenced the reduction of lipid-oxidation processes in thigh (Marcincáková et al. 2011). Many investigations have shown that flavonoids have the capacity to act as powerful antioxidants by scavenging free radicals and terminating oxidative reactions. Luna et al. (2010) added thymol and carvacrol to broiler diet at a dose of 150 mg/kg for 42 days and noted that the addition of plants had a positive effect on the oxidative stability during storage of red meat. Similar positive effects of medicinal plants and aromatic herbs on oxidative meat stability were observed by Špernáková et al. (2007) using rosemary powder and by Govaris et al. (2004) with oregano powder in broilers diet. According the Kostadinovic et al. (2015), liver is an organ with a central metabolic role in the organism, often referred to as ‘the main laboratory’ since it performs the major detoxification tasks, and, for that reason, the liver is the prime target for the study of the metabolism of xenobiotic and other substances. Lipid peroxidation is a reaction between polyunsaturated fatty acids and oxygen, which is initiated by radical intermediates and active oxygen species produced by normal metabolic reactions or during metabolism of chemicals. Antioxidant enzymes counteract excessive formation and deleterious effects of reactive oxygen metabolites. For example, superoxide dismutase (SOD) catalyses the conversion of superoxide anion radical to H2O2, catalase reduction of H2O2 to water, while glutathione peroxidase (GSHPx) acts in conjunction with other enzymes to reduce H2O2 and to terminate lipid peroxidation (Halliwell and Chirico 1993). Spice herbs in the present experiment significantly reduced concentrations of MDA in liver, which indicates that spices have liver protective effects. Considering the character of lipid oxidation, it is necessary to feed the chickens with black pepper and hot red pepper at an early stage, so as to protect meat from the beginning of the oxidation process. This reduces the oxidative damage of fats in meat, extends shelf life, and also increases meat safety.

Conclusions

From reported findings, it can be concluded that the dietary addition of garlic, black pepper and hot red pepper to broiler diet resulted an in improvement of meat composition, lower cholesterol content, as well as decrease in lipid oxidation of meat. Overall, the addition of black pepper powder increased meat protein content, hot red pepper reduced cholesterol level in tissues, whereas mixture of the three spices acted synergistically, lowering cholesterol and decreasing lipid-oxidation process. Furthermore, this trial showed significant effect of selected spice herbs in chicken nutrition as powerful antioxidants in alteration of chicken meat quality and safety. Thus, spices, medicinal plants and aromatic herbs acted as very effective natural instruments, and could usefully serve as alternative to antibiotics, growth promoters and to improve meat quality; however, further investigation of their beneficial mechanisms is necessary.

Acknowledgements

The paper is a part of the research work on the Project III 46012 financed by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia.

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