Effect of essential oil supplementation to diet on meat quality, fatty acid composition, performance parameters and intestinal microbiota of Japanese quails.

The effect of essential oil (EO) supplementation on carcass characteristics of Japanese quails and interactions between ingredients and intestinal morphology were investigated in this study. A total of 250 quails were fed different diet: D1, basal diet (BD); D2, BD plus palmarosa oil (PO; 100 µg/kg diet); D3, BD plus lemon myrtle oil (LMO; 100 µg/kg diet); D4, BD plus α-Tops (mixture of α-terpineol, cineole and terpinene-4-ol; 100 µg/kg diet); and D5, BD plus cyclodextrin. Overall growth performance was determined at multiple time points during 35 days of experiment. Carcass characteristics (fatty acid, pH and colour), intestinal morphology and the expression levels of meat quality-related genes including the insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), myogenin and avian uncoupling protein (avUCP) were examined at the end of the trial. Additionally, intestinal microbiome of quails was studied by next-generation sequencing-based culture-independent analysis. Although the inclusion of EOs into the diet had no effect on the growth performance of quails and the microbial profile, the significant changes in pH24 and colour (a*) of the quail's breast muscle (p < .05) in the group receiving PO were observed. Additionally, oleic acid content in the breast muscle was significantly higher in the EOs supplemented groups (p < .01). Quails fed the PO supplemented diet had higher villus and relatively rich in oleic acid. The expression levels of IGF-1 and myogenin genes in quail's muscle were not affected, but the expression of avUCP gene was significantly lower in quails fed with LMO and α-Tops (p < .05). The results demonstrated variable effects of these treatments on intestinal morphology. Taken together, dietary inclusion of EOs is found to be beneficial and hence can be recommended for improving the quality of poultry meat.

Hepatoprotective Activity of Linalool in Rats Against Liver Injury Induced by Carbon Tetrachloride.

This study aimed to investigate and compare hepatoprotective activity of Coriandrum sativum (Cs) and it is major component linalool (Ln) against experimentally induced hepatotoxicity in rats. Essential oil of Cs was isolated by hydrodistillation method and chemical composition was determined by GS-MS analysis. 42 male Wistar Albino rats were divited into 7 groups each containing 6. The experimental groups were designed as: Normal control group, 1 ml/kg CCl4 administirated group, 25 mg/kg Silymarin and CCl4 administirated group, 100 and 200 mg/kg Cs and CCl4 administirated groups, 100 and 200 mg/kg Ln and CCl4 administered groups. The protective activities were determined according to the results of liver biomarkers (AST, ALT, ALP), antioxidant parameters (GSH, GPx, CAT), lipid peroxidation (MDA) and histopathological examination. Linalool percentage of Cs was 81.6%. The groups treated with linalool (100 and 200 mg/kg) (p < 0.01) and coriander (200 mg/kg) (p < 0.05) had significantly reduced AST (262-375) and ALT (101-290) levels (U/L) compared to the CCl4 (600-622) group. The levels (nmol/g protein) of MDA (11-12) were significantly lower (p < 0.01), the levels of GSH (11-12) and the activities of CAT (23-24) were significantly higher (p < 0.01) in linalool groups (100 and 200 mg/kg) compared to the CCl4 (18-5-10 respectively) group. These results were also supported by histopathological findings and indicate that Cs and Ln shows hepatoprotective activity against liver damage. In this regard, evaluation of activities of major components are needed to compare to medicinal plants in experimental diseases models.