Efficacy of dietary antioxidants on broiler oxidative stress, performance and meat quality: science and market

Several production factors could exacerbate the biological formation of free radicals which, in turn, cause oxidative stress that impair the health, overall performance and meat quality of broiler chickens. Such factors could have a nutritional, pathological, physiological or environmental origin. The modern drive towards intensive commercial poultry production has elevated the exposure risk of broilers to these factors. In contrast, it has been demonstrated in many studies that dietary antioxidants could combat oxidative stress and improve broiler performance as well as meat quality. Interestingly, these efficacy claims have generated much attention from several feed additive companies which has spurred the development of certain commercial antioxidant products available in the global market. Information from recent studies suggests that both natural and synthetic antioxidants can be effective for augmenting broiler performance and meat quality particularly under conditions of oxidative stress. However, legislative restrictions may hinder the inclusion of high amounts of synthetic antioxidants required to achieve potency in oxidative-stressed broilers. The efficacy of dietary antioxidants depends on the age of the birds, dose and duration of supplementation. Moreover, supplementation of individual antioxidants on average seems to offer a better performance improvement than does a combination of antioxidants. Nonetheless, research efforts aimed at finding the right proportion of combining dietary antioxidants will offer tremendous economic benefits especially with the reduced use of costly synthetic vitamin E. This article gives further insights into research areas that could enhance the effective supplementation of antioxidants in broilers.