Effects of Dietary Clostridium butyricum on Carcass Traits, Antioxidant Capacity, Meat Quality, and Fatty Acid Composition of Broilers

The demand for identifying substitutes for antioxidant feed additives in broiler production is increasing. The current study aimed to investigate the effects of Clostridium butyricum ( C. butyricum ) on carcass traits, antioxidant capacity, meat quality, and fatty acid composition of broiler chickens. A total of 330 one-day-old mixed-sex commercial Ross 308 broilers were randomly divided into five groups with six replicates per group and eleven broilers per replicate and reared for 39 days. The control (CON) group was fed a basal diet, the AM group was fed a basal diet containing 150 mg aureomycin/kg feed, and the CBL, CBM, and CBH groups were fed a basal diet containing 2 × 10 8 , 4 × 10 8 , and 8 × 10 8 colony-forming units (CFU) C. butyricum /kg feed. On day 21, compared to the AM group, serum total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) level was enhanced in the CBH group and serum total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) concentrations were increased in the CBM and CBH groups ( p < 0.05). Dietary C. butyricum resulted in the liver T-AOC, T-SOD, and catalase (CAT) of broilers linearly increased at day 21 ( p < 0.05). On day 39, supplementation with C. butyricum in broiler diets linearly increased concentrations of T-SOD ( p < 0.05), CAT ( p < 0.001), but linearly reduced MDA (malondialdehyde) contents ( p < 0.001) in the liver. For the breast muscle, the redness for meat color increased in a linear manner and the shearing force decreased in a quadratic manner in response to C. butyricum inclusion ( p < 0.05). The pH 45min , pH 24h , and the shearing force changed in a quadratic pattern ( p < 0.05). The contents of total MUFA (monounsaturated fatty acid) and total PUFA (polyunsaturated fatty acid) were altered and quadratically responded to the doses of C. butyricum ( p < 0.05). For the thigh muscle, the inclusion of C. butyricum in broiler diets showed the negative linear effects on the cooking loss and shearing force ( p < 0.001). The total MUFA contents were changed linearly and quadratically ( p < 0.001; p < 0.05), and the contents of total PUFA and the ratio of PUFA to SFA were quadratically responded to the doses of C. butyricum ( p < 0.05). In brief, dietary C. butyricum could beneficially enhance liver antioxidant capacity, and improve meat quality and fatty acid composition in broilers.