Antioxidants use in chicken feeding

Antioxidants play an important role in keeping chickens healthy and improving their performance. Research shows that including antioxidants in poultry diets helps support the immune system, reduces stress and improves the overall welfare of the flock.

One of the key antioxidants is vitamin E, which is a powerful antioxidant that helps protect cells from free radical damage. Supplementing chickens with vitamin E can reduce oxidative stress levels, which is especially important in intensive production environments.

Selenium is another important antioxidant that is often added to bird foods. This mineral plays a key role in ensuring the normal functioning of the immune system and is also involved in processes related to metabolism.

Omega-3 fatty acids, which also have antioxidant properties, can be included in the diet to support healthy skin and plumage and improve egg production.

It is important to consider that the quality of antioxidant sources in the diet matters. Selecting feeds high in natural antioxidants, such as berries, green vegetables and grains, can further improve the overall health of chickens.

Thus, the use of antioxidants in chicken nutrition is important for maintaining health and increasing poultry productivity, especially in modern industrial poultry farming.

In Russia, at the Institute of Poultry Farming in Sergeev Posad, since 1991, two defenses have been held (doctoral dissertation in 1992 and candidate dissertation in 2015) on the use of grape pomace in poultry feed and recommendations have been received for their use in production.

1. Analysis of the chemical composition of flour from grape pomace dark and white grape varieties showed that in terms of “crude” protein content, flour from dark grape varieties exceeds flour from white varieties by 1.6%.


2. In terms of amino acid content, flour from grape marc is from dark and white grape varieties is not inferior to herbal flour from the leaf mass of clover and spring vetch, and in some amino acids it is on a level with nettle flour.


3. According to chemical analysis, flour from grape marc dark grape varieties contain: calcium - 15.0 g/kg, iron - 170 mg/kg and iodine - 3.04 mg/kg, and in flour from light varieties - calcium 16.2 g/kg, iron -150 mg/kg and iodine - 13.75 mg/kg.


4. Introduction of grape flour into broiler chicken feed marc contributes to: increasing the live weight of broilers by 3.5-6.1% in the first experiment and by 2.6-6.3% in the second; improving the safety of livestock by 5.72 in 1 and by 2.9-5.8% in the 2nd experiment, as well as reducing feed costs by 2.04-5.08% in the second experiment.


5. When flour from grape marc is included in compound feeds The best indicators for meat quality relative to the control were obtained from broilers of the experimental groups and this was reflected in an increase in slaughter yield by 1.30-2.83%, availability of amino acids by 0.72 - 3.41% and calorie content of meat by 120 and 67.9 kJ .


6. Inclusion of flour from grape marc in the composition of feed broiler chickens contributed to a significant (P 0.001) increase in the accumulation of vitamin C in the liver by 6.41-11.39%, and in the kidneys by 4.81-12.28% relative to the control.