ABSTRACT

This study aimed to produce dog food containing natural antioxidants (blend of essential oils and vitamin E) to replace synthetic antioxidants and determine the effects on food conservation and animal health sequentially. The foods were produced in a commercial factory, and the antioxidants were added at the oil bath stage. Ten adult beagle dogs were used, divided into two treatments; control treatment (CON; synthetic antioxidant feed [butylhydroxytoluene]) and test treatment (NAT; natural antioxidant feed; blend of essential oils from clove, rosemary, oregano, and vitamin E). The dogs were weighed at the beginning and end of each experimental period, and there were no treatment effects for body weight. In both treatments, food conservation efficiency was observed, demonstrating the feasibility of using natural sources as antioxidants in dog food because chemical and oxidative variables did not differ regardless of the antioxidant used during production. The animals’ metabolic and haematological variables were not influenced by the treatments; however, a reduction in the number of lymphocytes was observed over time only in the dogs of the NAT group. There was also a day effect for total leukocyte, neutrophil and erythrocyte counts only in NAT animals, which means a significant increase (p ≤ 0.05) in the variables on d 28. There was an effect of the treatment and an interaction treatment x day for the total bacterial count, whereas a decrease in the bacterial count (p < 0.05) was observed in NAT dogs’ faeces on day 28. Dogs fed the NAT diet had lower reactive oxygen species (ROS) (p ≤ 0.05) to minimise oxidative stress. In group NAT, the NPSH and glutathione S-transferase levels were increased, which may explain the decrease in ROS levels. It was concluded that natural antioxidants in dog feed, in addition to promoting feed conservation, stimulate levels of systemic antioxidants and minimise the impacts caused by free radicals in the dogs’ blood.

摘要

本研究旨在生产含有天然抗氧化剂（精油和维生素 E 的混合物）的狗粮，以替代合成抗氧化剂，并依次确定对食物保护和动物健康的影响。食品是在商业工厂生产的，抗氧化剂是在油浴阶段添加的。使用十只成年比格犬，分为两种处理；对照处理（CON；合成抗氧化剂饲料[丁基羟基甲苯]）和试验处理（NAT；天然抗氧化剂饲料；来自丁香、迷迭香、牛至和维生素 E 的精油的混合物）。在每个实验期的开始和结束时对狗进行称重，体重没有治疗效果。在这两种处理中，都观察到了食物保存效率，证明了在狗粮中使用天然来源作为抗氧化剂的可行性，因为无论生产过程中使用的抗氧化剂如何，化学和氧化变量都没有差异。动物的代谢和血液学变量不受治疗的影响；然而，随着时间的推移，仅在 NAT 组的狗中观察到淋巴细胞数量减少。仅在 NAT 动物中，总白细胞、中性粒细胞和红细胞计数也存在一天效应，这意味着显着增加（p  ≤ 0.05) 在第 28 天的变量中。治疗和相互作用治疗 x 天对总细菌计数有影响，而 在 NAT 狗的粪便中观察到细菌计数减少 ( p < 0.05)第 28 天。喂食 NAT 饮食的狗具有较低的活性氧 (ROS) ( p  ≤ 0.05)，以最大限度地减少氧化应激。在NAT组中，NPSH和谷胱甘肽S-转移酶水平升高，这可能解释了ROS水平降低的原因。结论是，狗饲料中的天然抗氧化剂，除了促进饲料保存外，还能刺激全身抗氧化剂的水平，并最大限度地减少狗血液中自由基造成的影响。