Effect of peanut shell extract supplementation on the growth performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality of broilers

The present study investigated the effects of dietary supplementation of peanut shell extract on the growth performance and physiological properties of broiler chicks. Two diet energy levels (Positive and Negative) and four additives (0.0, 0.05, and 0.1% peanut shell extract and commercial antioxidant) were factorially arranged for eight treatments. The overall weight gain of the broilers was slightly improved at 0.05% for the antioxidant treatments regardless of the diet energy levels, but there was no statistical difference among the treatments (p > 0.05). The carcass characteristics of the broilers, such as cooking loss, crude protein content, antioxidant activity, and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) values, were improved by the feeding diets containing the 0.05% peanut shell extract. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the dietary supplementation of peanut shell extract did not have a negative effect on the immune responses of the broilers show by the lack of statistical differences in the liver and bursa Fabricious weight and cytokine level among the treatments. From the economic analysis, dietary supplementation of peanut shell extract significantly influenced the compensatory growth and food efficiency and, in turn, led to a decrease in the duration needed to reach 1.5 kg compared to the control. These results suggest the possibility that the peanut shell extract could be used as a functional feed additive by improving the growth performance and carcass characteristics with no detrimental effects on broilers.