The effect of essential oil (EO) supplementation on carcass characteristics of Japanese quails and interactions between ingredients and intestinal morphology were investigated in this study. A total of 250 quails were fed different diet: D1, basal diet (BD); D2, BD plus palmarosa oil (PO; 100 µg/kg diet); D3, BD plus lemon myrtle oil (LMO; 100 µg/kg diet); D4, BD plus α-Tops (mixture of α-terpineol, cineole and terpinene-4-ol; 100 µg/kg diet); and D5, BD plus cyclodextrin. Overall growth performance was determined at multiple time points during 35 days of experiment. Carcass characteristics (fatty acid, pH and colour), intestinal morphology and the expression levels of meat quality-related genes including the insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), myogenin and avian uncoupling protein (avUCP) were examined at the end of the trial. Additionally, intestinal microbiome of quails was studied by next-generation sequencing-based culture-independent analysis. Although the inclusion of EOs into the diet had no effect on the growth performance of quails and the microbial profile, the significant changes in pH₂₄ and colour (a*) of the quail's breast muscle (p < .05) in the group receiving PO were observed. Additionally, oleic acid content in the breast muscle was significantly higher in the EOs supplemented groups (p < .01). Quails fed the PO supplemented diet had higher villus and relatively rich in oleic acid. The expression levels of IGF-1 and myogenin genes in quail's muscle were not affected, but the expression of avUCP gene was significantly lower in quails fed with LMO and α-Tops (p < .05). The results demonstrated variable effects of these treatments on intestinal morphology. Taken together, dietary inclusion of EOs is found to be beneficial and hence can be recommended for improving the quality of poultry meat.

中文翻译：

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日粮中添加精油对日本鹌鹑肉质、脂肪酸组成、生产参数和肠道菌群的影响

本研究调查了添加精油 (EO) 对日本鹌鹑胴体特征的影响以及成分与肠道形态之间的相互作用。总共给 250 只鹌鹑喂食了不同的日粮：D1，基础日粮（BD）；D2，BD 加棕榈油（PO；100 µg/kg 饮食）；D3，BD 加柠檬桃金娘油（LMO；100 µg/kg 饮食）；D4，BD 加 α-Tops（α-萜品醇、桉树脑和 terpinene-4-ol 的混合物；100 µg/kg 饮食）；D5，BD加环糊精。在 35 天的实验期间，在多个时间点确定总体生长性能。屠体特征（脂肪酸、pH值和颜色）、肠道形态和肉质相关基因的表达水平，包括胰岛素样生长因子（IGF-1）、肌细胞生成素和禽类解偶联蛋白（avUCP）。试用。此外，鹌鹑的肠道微生物组通过基于下一代测序的不依赖培养的分析进行研究。尽管在日粮中添加 EO 对鹌鹑的生长性能和微生物特征没有影响，但 pH 值的显着变化 观察 PO 组鹌鹑胸肌的_{24和颜色 (a*) (} p < .05)。此外，EOs 补充组的胸肌中油酸含量显着升高 ( p  < .01)。饲喂 PO 补充饲料的鹌鹑具有较高的绒毛和相对丰富的油酸。鹌鹑肌肉中IGF-1和肌细胞生成素基因的表达水平不受影响，但在喂食LMO和α-Tops的鹌鹑中，avUCP基因的表达水平显着降低（p  < .05）。结果证明了这些治疗对肠道形态的不同影响。总之，发现添加 EO 是有益的，因此可以推荐用于改善禽肉的质量。