Effects of Jerusalem Artichoke on Growth Performance, Immune Function, Meat Quality of Chickens

Jerusalem artichoke is a promising material for roughage due to its high yield and quality, which is commonly used to feed animals and promote their growth. The bioactive substances in its stems and leaves also have several essential functions, including antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties. Therefore, 1%, 2%, and 4% Jerusalem artichoke stems and leaves were added to the feed in this study. Enxi No. 5 native chickens and Lingnan yellow broilers were raised, respectively. This study aimed to investigate the effects of varying amounts of Jerusalem artichoke stems and leaves on the growth performance, immune response, amino acid composition, and fatty acid profile of different chicken breeds. The results show that, ①When the contents of Jerusalem artichoke stems and leaves were 1% and 2%, the average daily gain of native chickens and broilers increased by 3.39% and 3.84%, the feed to weight ratio decreased by 6.01% and 1.66%, respectively; ②When the content of Jerusalem artichoke stems and leaves were 2%, the thymus index, bursa index, spleen index of native chickens and broilers increased by 29.23%, 65.94%,37.25% and 35.38%, 24.77%, 26.62%, respectively; ③When the content of Jerusalem artichoke stems and leaves were 2%, the effects on IgA, IgG, IgM of native chickens and broilers were most significant, which increased by 50.54%, 7.77%, 45.83% and 87.28%, 11.23%, 33.33%, respectively; ④When the contents of Jerusalem artichoke stems and leaves were 4% and 2%, T-AOC, GSH of native chickens and broilers increased by 14.46%, 7.42% and 94.25%, 6.51%, while MDA decreased by 43.58% and 70.68%; ⑤When the contents of Jerusalem artichoke stems and leaves were 1%, 2%, the fresh amino acids of native chickens and broilers increased by 3.23%, 4.79%, respectively; ⑥ When the content of Jerusalem artichoke stems and leaves were 2% for native chicken, its fatty acids, n-6PUFA/n-3PUFA decreased by 6.5%, 78.32%, its unsaturated fatty acids increased by 3.55%. n-6PUFA/n-3PUFA of broilers decreased 15.4%. However, there was no significant effect on the fatty acids of broilers (P>0.05). In summary, the growth performance, immune performance, and meat quality were improved by adding the Jerusalem artichoke stems and leaves.