Effects of dietary supplementation of Artemisia argyi aqueous extract on antioxidant indexes of small intestine in broilers

The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of Artemisia argyi aqueous extract (AAE) on antioxidant indexes in the small intestine. A total of 192 Arbor Acre broiler chickens (one-day-old) were randomly divided into 4 treatments with 6 replicates of 8 chickens. These 4 diets were formulated by adding 0, 500, 1,000 and 2,000 mg/kg AAE to the basal diet. The results showed as follows: 1) compared with the control, the total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) in ileum for the 2,000 mg/kg treatment group was significantly increased at 21 days of age (P < 0.05); the T-AOC levels in jejunum and ileum were significantly increased in broilers supplemented with 500 mg/kg AAE at 42 days of age (P < 0.05), and the T-AOC levels in jejunum and ileum were significantly improved in 1,000 mg/kg treatment group (P < 0.01). 2) At 21 days of age, supplementation of 500 mg/kg AAE significantly increased the catalase (CAT) activity of small intestine, and the glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity of jejunum was improved (P < 0.01), meanwhile, the GSH-Px activity of duodenum and the total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) activity of duodenum and jejunum were significantly higher than those of the control group (P < 0.05); supplementation of 1,000 mg/kg AAE significantly increased the CAT activity of duodenum and ileum and the GSH-Px activity of duodenum and jejunum (P < 0.05), and the ileum GSH-Px activity was significantly increased (P < 0.01); supplementation of 2,000 mg/kg AAE significantly increased the CAT activity of duodenum and ileum (P < 0.05). At 42 days of age, supplementation of 500 mg/kg AAE significantly increased the GSH-Px activity of ileum and the T-SOD activity of duodenum (P < 0.05), meanwhile, the T-SOD activity of jejunum was significantly increased (P < 0.01); supplementation of 1,000 mg/kg AAE significantly increased the CAT activity of jejunum and the T-SOD activity of ileum (P < 0.01), and the GSH-Px activity of jejunum was significantly increased (P < 0.05); supplementation of 2,000 mg/kg AAE significantly increased the T-SOD activity of ileum (P < 0.05), but significantly decreased the CAT activity of ileum and the GSH-Px activity of jejunum (P < 0.05). 3) The malondialdehyde (MDA) levels of 3 AAE supplementation groups were significantly decreased at 21 and 42 days of age (P < 0.05). The results suggested that dietary supplementation with AAE could improve the antioxidative capacity of small intestine in broilers.