Evaluation of the Protective Activities of Dietary Turmeric Powder on Growth Performance, Biochemical Parameters, Antioxidant Status, and Gene Expression in Heat-stressed Broilers

This study was designed to evaluate the protective effects of turmeric rhizome powder (TRP) against the harmful effects of heat stress (HS) on some biochemical parameters and antioxidant status. Four groups were formed entirely from 72 one-day-old chicks with an initial body weight average of 45.0±3.0 g, including the basal diet: TNC: no supplements were added to the diet (control group); TN-TRP: 300 g TRP /100 kg of feed was supplemented; HS-control: no supplements were added, and the birds were exposed to heat stress; and HS-TRP: 300 g TRP/100 kg of diet was supplemented and the birds were exposed to heat stress) for 35 days. Heat stress groups were subjected to thermal stress (40.0± 5.0 ˚C) for 8 hours per day from the 21st day to the end of the experiment. At the end of the trial, four healthy birds were randomly selected from each group and slaughtered for sampling and analysis. The serum total protein, albumin, ALT, AST, uric acid, and urea were significantly decreased by the dietary TRP when compared with the HS-control group while creatinine was not affected significantly. The serum total lipid and malondialdehyde (MDA) were significantly dropped but catalase enzyme activity increased. The gene expression levels of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR-α), glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1 alpha (PGC-1α), and superoxide dismutase-1 (SOD-1) were significantly increased by TRP addition. The results suggest that a TRP-supplemented diet affected some biochemical parameters and improved the antioxidant status and expression of studied genes.