Dietary Grape Seed Extract, Onion Peel Extract or Rosemary Extract supplementation alleviates Diquat-induced Restrained Growth and Oxidative Stress of Lohmann Chicks

Abstract The present study was carried out to evaluate the grape seed extract, onion peel extract and rosemary extract on Diquat-induced restrained growth and oxidative stress in Lohmann chicks. A total of 200 Lohmann chicks, one day old, were assigned randomly into 5 diets: the positive control (PC) group, the negative control (NC) group, the grape seed extract (GSE) 100 mg/kg supplementing diet, the onion peel extract (OPE) 100 mg/kg supplementing diet and the rosemary extract (ROE) 100 mg/kg supplementing diet. During the first 7 days of trial, compared with NC and PC groups, the GSE group enhanced average daily feed intake (P < 0.05). On day 8, all chicks were intraperitoneally injected with diquat except PC which was injected with normal saline. Diquat injection decreased the growth performance (P < 0.05), increased platelet volume distribution width (PWD) concentration (P < 0.05), increased malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration and activities of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in the serum of chicks (P < 0.05), decreased total protein (TP), albumin (ALB), globulin (GLB) concentration, activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) in the serum (P < 0.05), increased MDA concentration and decreased GST activities in the liver (P < 0.05). From d 8 to 21, lower average daily gain (ADG) was observed in NC group than other groups (P < 0.05). Compared with NC group, GSE decreased ALT activities, MDA, RDW and PDW concentration (P < 0.05), increased SOD, GST activities (P < 0.05). Compared with NC group, ROE decreased ALT activities and MDA concentration (P < 0.05). Compared with NC group, the OPE group decreased ALT activities, MDA, RDW and PDW concentration (P < 0.05), increased SOD activities (P < 0.05) of chicks. These results suggest that supplementing antioxidants in diets alleviated oxidative stress in chicks challenged by improve antioxidant capacity and liver function.