Effects of dietary ?-tocopherol acetate and pomegranate peel extract on growth performance and antioxidative potential and lipid oxidation of meat of broiler

The present study compared the effects of the dietary supplementation of alpha-tocopherol acetate (TA) and pomegranate peel extract (PPE) alone or in combination in order to prevent oxidative stress created by the en-richment of the diet by 4 % flaxseed oil interms of the growth performance, and fatty acid composition, total phenolic contents, antioxidative profile and lipid oxidation of meat of broilers. A total of 600 day old Ross 308 male broiler chicks were randomly distributed into five treatments with 5 replicates of 24 chicks each.The diets included: CONT: a control diet containing 50 mg/kg TA and 4 % flaxseed oil; TA200: the diet supplemented with 200 mg/kg TA to the CONT diet; PPE100, PPE200 and TA100+PPE100: the diets supplemented with 100 and 200 mg/kg PPE and 100 mg/kg TA+100 mg/kg PPE to the CONT diet.The dietary treatments had no significant effect on growth performance. The TA200, PPE100, PPE200 and TA100+PPE100 diets significantly increased the contents of total polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), omega-6 fatty acids (FAs)and omega-3 FAs, total phenolic contents (TPCs), the 2,2-dipheny l-1-picry l hydrazy l radical scavenging activity and ferric reducing antioxidant power, and significantly decreased the concentrations of total saturated FAs, total monounsaturated FAs, the omega-6/omega-3 ratio and the malondialdehyde (MDA) values of the thigh meat and breast meat compared to the CONT diet. In conclusion, the PPE100, PPE200 and TA100+PPE100 diets were as effective as TA200 diet alone in terms of enriching broiler thigh meat and breast meat with the omega-3 PUFAs. The dietary combination of TA and PPE was a more effective antioxidant in terms of the lowest omega-6/omega-3 ratio of broiler breast meat, and the highest TPCs and the lowest MDA values of broiler thigh meat and breast meat enriched with omega-3 PUFAs compared to TA200 alone.