Abstract
The aim of the present study was to elucidate the impacts of dietary curcumin supplementation on energy metabolism, brain monoamines and muscle oxidative stability in heat-stressed broilers. In total, 120 day-old chicks were allocated into three equal groups of four replicates. The first group (T-1) was maintained on a thermoneutral condition, while the second group (T-2) was subjected to 8 h of thermal stress (34 degrees C), and both groups fed the basal diet with no supplement. The third group (T-3) was exposed to the same thermal stress conditions and fed the basal diet supplemented with curcumin (100 mg kg(-1) diet). The dietary curcumin supplementation significantly increased the breast yield (p = 0.004), but reduced the percentage of abdominal fat (p = 0.017) compared with the T-2 group. The addition of curcumin to broiler diets significantly improved the levels of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in breast and thigh muscles compared with the T-2 group (p < 0.05). The curcumin-supplemented group showed significantly lower levels of malondialdehyde in the breast and thigh muscles than that of the T-2 group (p = 0.001 and 0.015, respectively). The dietary curcumin supplementation significantly improved the levels of ATP and CoQ10 in liver tissues (p = 0.012 and 0.001, respectively) and brain serotonin (p = 0.006) as compared to the T2 group. Meanwhile, the heat-stressed group showed significantly higher levels of ADP and Na,K-ATPase in the liver tissues than that of the other experimental groups (p = 0.011 and 0.027, respectively). It could be concluded that dietary curcumin supplementation may improve carcass yield, energy biomarkers, brain serotonin and muscle oxidative stability of heat-stressed broiler chickens.