article · Animals
High stocking density creates stress in commercial broiler chickens, impairing growth performance, immune markers, antioxidant defences, and normal behaviours. A 28-day study evaluated the effect of dietary curcumin supplementation at 100 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg in 200 Cobb 500 broilers reared under high stocking density compared to moderate density. Birds raised under high stocking density suffered reduced growth, lowered thyroid hormone concentrations, impaired antioxidant enzyme activity, diminished immunoglobulin levels, and altered hepatic gene expression. These stressed chickens also displayed elevated corticosterone, pro-inflammatory cytokines, and increased standing behaviour at the expense of feeding and resting. Adding curcumin to the feed, particularly at 200 mg/kg, mitigated the detrimental impacts of high stocking density by reducing oxidative stress, restoring growth-related gene expression, and improving both immune status and behavioural patterns.
Intensive poultry production often relies on high stocking densities, which can compromise bird welfare, immunity, and growth efficiency through chronic stress. Demonstrating that a natural dietary additive like curcumin can alleviate these physiological setbacks offers poultry producers practical dietary strategies to safeguard flock health, improve feed intake behaviour, and maintain productivity under crowded rearing conditions.
This research provides evidence for animal feed manufacturers and commercial poultry producers seeking functional additives to counter crowding stress. The findings suggest dietary curcumin could be formulated into broiler feed at 200 mg per kilogram of diet. This represents applied and tested experimental research in birds, though larger commercial field trials and cost-benefit evaluations would be necessary before widespread market uptake.
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Curcumin's antioxidant properties reduce free radicals and may improve broiler growth. Therefore, the influence of stocking density (SD) and administration of curcumin in the diet on broiler performance was explored to clarify the impact of HSD and curcumin on the performance of growth, behavioural patterns, haematological, oxidant/antioxidant parameters, immunity markers, and the growth-related genes expression in broiler chickens. A total of 200 broiler chickens (Cobb 500, 2-weeks old) were allotted into 4 groups; SD (moderate and high) and curcumin (100 and 200 mg/kg diet)-supplemented HSD, respectively. Behavioural observations were performed. After a 28-day experimental period, tissue and blood samples were collected for analysis. Expressions of mRNA for insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), growth hormone receptor (GHR), myostatin (MSTN), and leptin in liver tissues were examined. HSD birds exhibited lower growth performance measurements, haematological parameters, circulating 3,5,3-triiodothyronine and thyroxine levels, antioxidant activities (GSH-Px, catalase, superoxide dismutase), immunoglobulins (A, G, M), and hepatic GHR and IGF-1 expression values. However, HSD birds even had an increment of serum corticosterone, malondialdehyde, pro-inflammatory cytokine (TNF-a, IL-2, IL-6) levels, hepatic leptin and MSTN expression. Moreover, HSD decreased drinking, feeding, crouching, body care, and increased standing and walking behaviour. The addition of curcumin, particularly at a 200 mg/kg diet, alleviated the effect of HSD through amending growth-related gene expression in the chickens. In conclusion, curcumin can enhance birds' growth performance, behavioural patterns, and immunity by reducing oxidative stress and up-regulating the growth-related gene expressions of broilers under stressful conditions due to a high stocking density.
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DOI: 10.3390/ani12080958
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