Impact of dietary dandelion (Taraxacum mongolicum Hand. -Mazz.) supplementation on carcase traits, breast meat quality, muscle fatty and amino acid composition and antioxidant capacity in broiler chickens

Figures & data

Table 1. Ingredients and nutritional composition of the basal diet (air-dry basis).

Item	d 0–21	d 22–42
Ingredients (g/kg)
Corn	525.00	588.00
Soybean meal	400.00	338.00
Soybean oil	30.00	30.00
Dicalcium phosphate	19.00	18.00
Limestone	10.80	12.20
Salt	3.70	3.70
L-Lysine·HCl (78%)	0.50	0.30
DL-Methionine	1.90	0.70
Vitamin and minerals premix^a	8.00	8.00
Choline	1.10	1.10
Total	1000.00	1000.00
Nutritional level^2
Metabolic energy (MJ/kg)	12.42	12.62
Crude protein (%)	22.27	19.24
Ether extract (%)	4.69	5.45
Crude fibre (%)	3.50	3.26
Total phosphorus (%)	0.59	0.67

^aPremix provided the following per kilogram of diet: retinol, 0.27 mg; cholecalciferol, 0.075 mg; tocopherol, 26 mg; menadione, 1.20 mg; thiamine, 3.00 mg; riboflavin, 8.00 mg; pyridoxine, 4.40 mg; cyanocobalamin, 0.012 mg; nicotinic acid, 45 mg; folic acid, 0.75 mg; biotin, 0.20 mg; choline, 1100 mg; calcium pantothenate, 15 mg; Fe, 100 mg; Cu, 10 mg; Zn, 108 mg; Mn, 120 mg; I, 1.5 mg; Se, 0.35 mg.

^bMetabolic energy was a calculated value, while the others were measured values.

Table 2. Effects of dandelion on the carcase traits of broilers.

Item	CON	LD	HD	SEM	p-value
					Treatment	Linear	Quadratic
Carcase percentage, %	95.1	95.26	93.84	0.354	0.296	0.567	0.334
Eviscerated percentage, %	74.35^xy	71.35^y	78.56^x	1.118	0.090	0.175	0.081
Breast muscle yield, %	28.57	27.58	29.13	0.379	0.474	0.319	0.256
Leg muscle yield, %	20.11	21.12	19.71	0.287	0.201	0.132	0.088
Abdominal fat yield, %	2.92^x	2.31^xy	2.05^y	0.118	0.078	0.187	0.508

CON: the control group fed basal diet (n = 5); LD: basal diet supplemented with 0.5 g/kg of dandelion (n = 5); HD: basal diet supplemented with 1.0 g/kg of dandelion (n = 5).

SEM: standard error of means.

^xyMeans in the same row without common superscript letter tended to be different (p < 0.10).

Table 3. Effects of dandelion on the meat quality of broilers.

Item	CON	LD	HD	SEM	p-value
					Treatment	Linear	Quadratic
pH45 min	6.56	6.32	6.36	0.056	0.164	0.116	0.217
pH24 h	6.03	6.00	6.04	0.034	0.887	0.657	0.632
Lightness (L*)	47.35	46.42	47.50	0.418	0.347	0.180	0.154
Redness (a*)	2.55^y	3.25^x	2.82^xy	0.123	0.083	0.033	0.047
Yellowness (b*)	10.41	10.14	10.44	0.226	0.847	0.593	0.576
Water loss rate, %	15.89^b	16.40^b	23.34^a	1.076	<0.01	0.152	<0.01
Drip loss, %	2.91	2.75	2.60	0.116	0.740	0.795	0.981
Cooking loss, %	32.28^a	29.18^b	33.18^a	0.515	0.024	0.013	<0.01
Shear force, %	56.26	62.94	70.61	3.102	0.254	0.656	0.942

CON: the control group fed basal diet (n = 5); LD: basal diet supplemented with 0.5 g/kg of dandelion (n = 5); HD: basal diet supplemented with 1.0 g/kg of dandelion (n = 5).

SEM: standard error of means.

^abMeans in the same row without common superscript letter differ significantly (p < 0.05).

^xyMeans in the same row without common superscript letter tended to be different (p < 0.10)

Table 4. Effects of dandelion on the muscle chemical composition of broilers.

Item	CON	LD	HD	SEM	p-value
					Treatment	Linear	Quadratic
Moisture, %	75.14	75.40	75.56	0.142	0.493	0.621	0.862
Crude protein, %	23.77^a	22.93^b	22.79^b	0.160	0.016	0.057	0.227
Ether extract, %	0.55	0.63	0.60	0.017	0.113	0.053	0.093
Ash, %	1.58	1.54	1.57	0.029	0.878	0.620	0.620

CON: the control group fed basal diet (n = 5); LD: basal diet supplemented with 0.5 g/kg of dandelion (n = 5); HD: basal diet supplemented with 1.0 g/kg of dandelion (n = 5).

SEM: standard error of means.

^abMeans in the same row without common superscript letter differ significantly (p < 0.05).

Table 5. Effects of dandelion on pectoralis major muscle fatty acid composition (% of total fatty acid) of broilers.

Item	CON	LD	HD	SEM	p-value
					Treatment	Linear	Quadratic
C16:0	24.88	24.58	24.18	1.206	0.628	0.950	0.940
C18:0	13.06	15.85	13.07	2.771	0.152	0.065	0.059
C20:0	0.07	0.08	0.07	0.010	0.248	0.100	0.104
C22:0	0.02	0.03	0.02	0.004	0.562	0.878	1.000
C24:0	0.38	0.52	0.29	0.195	0.126	0.086	0.066
C16:1	1.19	0.90	1.32	0.472	0.316	0.202	0.170
C20:1	0.23	0.21	0.24	0.047	0.746	0.497	0.472
C18:1n-9	28.35	23.32	28.51	4.710	0.128	0.051	0.047
C20:2	1.12^y	1.74^x	1.04^y	0.141	0.051	0.021	0.017
C18:2n-6	22.22	22.30	23.63	0.563	0.436	0.676	0.557
C18:3n-6	0.97	1.26	0.79	0.400	0.113	0.072	0.055
C18:3n-3	1.36	1.45	1.32	0.165	0.417	0.238	0.213
C20:3n-6	1.06	1.20	0.84	0.430	0.402	0.349	0.292
C20:4n-6	4.28b	7.23^a	3.57^b	2.093	<0.01	<0.01	<0.01
C22:6n-3	0.54^xy	0.74^x	0.41^y	0.255	0.078	0.051	0.038
SFA	39.11	41.04	37.64	1.039	0.211	0.142	0.114
UFA	60.89	58.96	62.36	0.976	0.211	0.142	0.114
MUFA	28.26	22.98	30.07	0.940	0.132	0.065	0.054
PUFA	32.63	35.97	32.29	1.011	0.119	0.047	0.043
n-6 PUFA	29.41	32.05	29.52	0.997	0.141	0.053	0.052
n-3 PUFA	1.75^b	2.19^a	1.74^b	1.004	0.029	0.010	<0.01
n-6/n-3	15.94	14.80	17.13	0.931	0.113	0.101	0.072

CON: the control group fed basal diet (n = 5); LD: basal diet supplemented with 0.5 g/kg of dandelion (n = 5); HD: basal diet supplemented with 1.0 g/kg of dandelion (n = 5).

SEM: standard error of means. SFA: saturated fatty acids; UFA: unsaturated fatty acid; MUFA: monounsaturated fatty acids; PUFA: polyunsaturated fatty acids.

^abMeans in the same row without common superscript letter differ significantly (p < 0.05).

^xyMeans in the same row without common superscript letter tended to be different (p < 0.10).

Table 6. Effects of dandelion on pectoralis major muscle amino acid composition of broilers (%).

Item	CON	LD	HD	SEM	p-value
					Treatment	Linear	Quadratic
Asparagic acid (Asp)	10.42	10.44	10.71	0.091	0.363	0.783	0.513
Threonine (Thr)	5.71	5.63	5.49	0.056	0.299	0.846	0.802
Serine (Ser)	5.35	5.35	5.33	0.026	0.971	0.947	1.000
Glutamic acid (Glu)	12.91	12.83	12.62	0.080	0.326	0.961	0.707
Glycine (Gly)	8.58	8.66	8.69	0.066	0.799	0.735	0.866
Alanine (Ala)	9.06	8.94	8.74	0.077	0.242	0.827	0.789
Cysteine (Cys)	0.44	0.44	0.41	0.016	0.692	1.000	0.813
Valine (Val)	5.21	5.26	5.33	0.042	0.531	0.827	0.922
Methionine (Met)	2.72	2.63	2.54	0.040	0.169	0.607	0.976
Isoleucine (Ile)	5.07	5.15	5.18	0.030	0.407	0.502	0.747
Leucine (Leu)	8.98	8.88	8.77	0.044	0.146	0.601	0.963
Tyrosine (Tyr)	2.62	2.58	2.56	0.021	0.575	0.557	0.745
Phenylalanine (Phe)	4.50	4.55	4.67	0.046	0.328	0.948	0.720
Lysine (Lys)	9.03	9.23	9.36	0.086	0.308	0.544	0.853
Histidine (His)	4.08	4.18	4.37	0.069	0.227	0.854	0.754
Arginine (Arg)	5.31^x	5.27^xy	5.23^y	0.014	0.084	0.476	0.952
EAA	50.61	50.77	50.93	0.091	0.383	0.679	0.980
NEAA	49.39	49.23	49.07	0.091	0.383	0.679	0.980
FAA	49.00	48.77	48.53	0.116	0.259	0.649	0.989

CON: the control group fed basal diet (n = 5); LD: basal diet supplemented with 0.5 g/kg of dandelion (n = 5); HD: basal diet supplemented with 1.0 g/kg of dandelion (n = 5).

SEM: standard error of means. EAA; essential amino acid; NEAA; non-essential amino acid; FAA; flavour amino acid.

^xyMeans in the same row without common superscript letter tended to be different (p < 0.10).

Table 7. Effects of dandelion on antioxidant enzyme activities and GSH content of pectoralis major muscle of broilers.

Item	CON	LD	HD	SEM	p-value
					Treatment	Linear	Quadratic
CAT (U/mg protein)	14.65	17.91	16.41	1.060	0.486	0.253	0.309
GSH-Px (U/mg protein)	11.53	12.96	13.54	0.655	0.459	0.529	0.770
T-SOD (U/mg protein)	688.68	599.94	635.35	19.334	0.172	0.084	0.130
GSH (μmol/g protein)	164.64	149.79	157.92	5.718	0.654	0.373	0.407

CON: the control group fed basal diet (n = 5); LD: basal diet supplemented with 0.5 g/kg of dandelion (n = 5); HD: basal diet supplemented with 1.0 g/kg of dandelion (n = 5).

SEM: standard error of means; CAT: catalase; GSH-Px: glutathione peroxidase; T-SOD: total of superoxide dismutase; GSH: glutathione.

Table 8. Effects of dandelion on thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) of pectoralis major muscle during storage.

Item	CON	LD	HD	SEM	p-value
					Treatment	Linear	Quadratic
1 day	2.15	1.71	1.48	0.137	0.122	0.349	0.695
3 days	2.55^a	1.29^b	1.46^b	0.192	<0.01	<0.01	0.011
5 days	2.37^a	1.59^b	1.62^b	0.153	0.029	0.034	0.112
7 days	2.40^a	2.00^ab	1.47^b	0.150	0.045	0.526	0.794

CON: the control group fed basal diet (n = 5); LD: basal diet supplemented with 0.5 g/kg of dandelion (n = 5); HD: basal diet supplemented with 1.0 g/kg of dandelion (n = 5).

SEM: standard error of means.

TBARS expressed as μmol of malondialdehyde per g protein of tissue.

^abMeans in the same row without common superscript letter differ significantly (p < 0.05).

Data availability statement

The results and analyses presented in this article are freely available upon request.