The Growth Performance, Meat Quality, and Gut Bacteria of Broilers Raised with or without Antibiotics and Green Tea Powder

Abstract

SUMMARY This study was to investigate whether green tea powder can be directly used as a feed additive for broiler production. Arbor Acres male broilers (n = 288) were randomly allocated to 4 dietary treatments consisting of 6 replicates with 12 broilers each in a completely randomized design. The 4 treatments were as follows: basal diet (CON), basal diet with 0.0004% antibiotics (ENBAC), basal diet with 1% green tea powder (GTP), basal diet with 0.0004% antibiotics, and 1% GTP (GTPEN). Broilers with the GTP treatment lowered body weight gain during their early age (days 0–21), but tended to increase the body weight during the late stage (days 21–42) of production. The feed conversion ratio was not changed upon dietary green tea powder supplementation when the whole production period is concerned. The leg muscle was proportionally high and abdominal fat was proportionally low in the GTP group as compared with that in the ENBAC group. The lightness (L*) value, the shear force, and the calcium content of the GTP group were lower in the breast meat as compared with the ENBAC group. A higher redness (a*) value and intramuscular fat content of breast muscle were observed in the GTP group. Dietary GTP supplementation promoted Lactobacillus proliferation, inhibited E. coli proliferation in the ileum and cecum of the broilers during their 28–42 d of age. Green tea powder could be used as feed additive to improve meat color and Lactobacillus proliferation for broiler production.