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Effects of Bacillus subtilis and Rhodotorula Yeast Culture on the Growth Performance, Meat Quality, Antioxidant Capacity, and Serum Metabolites in Yellow-Feathered Broilers
College of Animal Science, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010018, China
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Biology 2025, 14(7), 820; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology14070820 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 31 May 2025
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Revised: 26 June 2025
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Accepted: 3 July 2025
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Published: 5 July 2025
Simple Summary
Yellow-feathered broilers, a distinctive breed in China, are favored by consumers because of their delicious meat and rich nutrition. However, in the past, the focus of industrial development was only on intensive breeding to achieve faster growth. With the improvement of consumers’ living standards, more and more people are beginning to care about the quality of broilers. Therefore, how to improve the meat quality of yellow-feathered broilers has become a new research hotspot. In this experiment, Bacillus subtilis (BS) and Rhodotorula yeast culture (RYC) were used as feed additives to study their effects on growth performance, meat quality, and antioxidant capacity of yellow-feathered broilers. Previous studies have established that BS confers health benefits in animals through oxidative stress mitigation, while RYC exhibits significant potential as an antioxidant source. The results demonstrated that the simultaneous addition of BS and RYC improved the meat quality and antioxidant capacity of yellow-feathered broilers. Metabolomic profiling revealed that both BS and RYC significantly modulated amino acid metabolic pathways, demonstrating considerable potential for practical applications in animal nutrition.
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation with Bacillus subtilis (BS) and Rhodotorula yeast culture (RYC) used as feed additives to study their effects on growth performance, meat quality, antioxidant capacity, and serum metabolomics in yellow-feathered broilers. A total of 192 one-day-old healthy yellow-feathered broilers were randomly divided into four treatment groups. The CON group was fed a basal diet, whereas the BS, RYC, and MIX groups were fed diets supplemented with 5 × 109 CFU/kg BS, 5000 mg/kg RYC, and a combination of both, respectively. The experimental period comprised 56 days. In the initial stage of growth, compared with the CON group, the body weight and average daily gain of broilers in the BS group were significantly increased (p < 0.05). The BS group increased the activity of CAT and SOD in broilers at 28 days, and the activity of CAT in RYC and MIX group were also significantly increased (p < 0.05). BS could increase GSH-Px activity significantly in broilers at 56 days (p < 0.05). Moreover, in comparison with the CON group, the MIX group decreased shear force and drip loss significantly (p < 0.05). Serum metabolome analysis showed that the addition of BS or RYC alone had the greatest difference in the abundance of D-amino acid metabolism and lysine metabolism, while the combined addition of BS and RYC found that glycerophospholipid metabolism and tryptophan metabolism had the greatest difference. In conclusion, dietary addition of BS and RYC could improve the meat quality of yellow-feathered broilers.
