Effect of Antioxidants on the Performance of Lambs Fed High Concentrate Diets

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of the product Powerjet on the performance of lambs. This product is a patented combination of three plant extracts selected by its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects on the intestinal mucosa. The substances in these extracts, sanguinarine, honokiol and its isomer magnolol, also have an antioxidant effect inhibiting mitochondrial peroxidation in the liver and heart. Therefore, this study was carried out to evaluate these extracts compared to selenium (Se) plus E vitamin, known antioxidants, in the performance of lambs fed a high concentrate diet. Forty eight male lambs, just weaned, with a mean initial weight and age of 20 ± 1.5kg and 60 days, were kept in individual pens with plastic bunks for feed and water and fed a diet composed exclusively of whole corn (80%) and a protein pellet (20%). The treatments differed only in the inclusion or not of the additives: control diet without additives (CTL), diet with the plant extracts (PX), diet with Se and E vitamin (ES) and diet with both additives (PXES). The PX inclusion in the diet was calculated to supply 4 mg/ kg LW and the Se and E vitamin inclusion was, respectively, 1.0 mg/ kg DM and 100 UI/kg DM. The CTL, PX, ES and PXES diets had, respectively, the following Se concentration, 0.05, 0.05, 0.24 and 0.23 mg/kg DM, and the Se requirement reported in the literature was between 0.10 and 0.20 mg/kg DM. The experimental design was the random blocks in a factorial 2x2 (with or without PX and ES) arrangement and the data analyzed with the Mixed model of SAS 9.3 with a 5% level significance. The inclusion of ES and PX in the diets resulted in greater final weight (P=0.015 and P=0.064, respectively) and greater weight gains (P=0.045 and P=0.060, respectively), but there was no interaction between the studied factors (P=0.365). The final weight means with ES and PX were 44.6 and 44.1 kg, and without ES and PX, 41.0 and 41.4kg, respectively. The daily weight gains were, in the same order, 0.390, 0.389, 0.352 and 0.353. There was no effect (P=0.303) of the inclusion of ES or PX in the dry matter intake (mean 3.35%), nor interaction of the additives (P=0.296). There was no difference (P=0.110) in the feed efficiency with a mean of 0.270 kg/kg DMI. Considering the results, the PX had a positive effect on performance.