Total Antioxidant Capacity and Malondialdehyde Level in Plasma of Broiler Chicks Fed Diet Containing Different Levels of Ginger (Zingiber officinale)

This study was conducted to assess the effect of ginger supplementation on malondialdehyde (MDA) level, as an oxidative stress marker, and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in broiler chicks. Two hundred male 1-day-old chicks were assigned randomly to four dietary treatments (basal diet as control group and basal diet containing 2.5, 5.0 and 7.5 g/kg ginger, respectively), with five replicates and ten birds per replicate. The levels of MDA and TAC were measured at days 21 and 42 of age. At day 21, mean MDA levels in chicks fed diet containing 2.5 g/kg ginger decreased numerically, and decreased significantly (P < 0.05) in chicks fed diet supplemented with 5 and 7.5 g/kg ginger, compared with that of control diet. At day 42, plasma MDA levels in chicks fed diets containing ginger decreased as compared with that of the control group. There were no differences for plasma MDA level among chicks fed diet containing ginger. There were sig-nificant differences (P < 0.05) among treatments for TAC level. At day 21, the highest mean of TAC was found in plasma of chicks fed diet containing 7.5 g/kg ginger, and the lowest one was for chicks in the con-trol group. At this period there was no difference between TAC level of chicks fed 2.5 and 5.0 g/kg ginger. At day 42, the similar results were observed, except that ginger supplementation over 5.0 g/kg had no sig-nificant effect on TAC level. The results showed that ginger supplementation, at and over 5.0 g/kg, caused improvement in the plasma of broiler chicks, with a decrease in MDA and an increase of (TAC).