Effects of dietary turmeric supplementation on plasma lipoproteins, meat quality and fatty acid composition in broilers

An experiment with 200 day-old male broiler chickens was conducted to investigate the effect of the dietary supplementation of turmeric rhizome powder (TRP) on plasma lipoprotein concentrations, and the meat quality and fatty acid composition of the thigh muscle of the broilers. The four treatments were 0% (F.TRP), 0.25% (L.TRP), 0.50% (M.TRP) and 0.75% (H.TRP) TRP in the diets. The pH and the fat, protein, dry matter and ash concentrations of thigh meat did not show significant differences between treatments. There were no significant differences between treatments in the concentrations of plasma triglyceride, total cholesterol and very low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (VLDL-c) at three weeks, and for plasma low-density lipoprotein (LDL-c) at three and six weeks of age. At week 6, the M.TRP- and H.TRP-fed birds showed lower plasma triglyceride and VLDL-c concentrations than the birds in the other treatments. At weeks 3 and 6 the concentration of plasma high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-c) of the M.TRP- and H.TRP-fed birds was significantly higher than that of the F. TRP-fed birds. At week 6, the H.TRP-fed birds had significantly lower concentrations of saturated fatty acids (SFA) in the thigh and total cholesterol in the plasma than the F.TRP-fed birds and the other birds. Moreover, a significantly higher thigh vaccenic acid concentration was indicated for the H.TRP-fed birds compared with the L.TRP- and F.TRP-fed birds. In orthogonal comparisons, TRP consumption reduced the concentration of plasma triglycerides and dry matter of thigh meat, as well as triglyceride, palmitic acid and total SFA concentrations, but increased the thigh meat protein and plasma HDL-c concentrations significantly, compared with the control. In conclusion, supplementation of TRP in broiler chickens diets can decrease the concentrations of SFAs and triglycerides in thigh meat and improve the meat quality as a result.