Abstract: To determine the effect of dietary supplementation of lotus leaves extract（LLE） on antioxidant ability and meat quality of yellow broilers, 1200 birds were randomly divided into 3 groups having 10 replicates(half male and half female)of 40 chicks each. The control group was fed a basal diet, the other two treatment groups were fed the basal diet with added 0.1% and 0.2% LLE respectively until 120 days of age. Dietary supplemented with 0.1% LLE increased pH_{45 min} value of muscle in male(P<0.05) and breast meat colour b^* value in female(P<0.05). Supplementation with 0.1% LLE also improved total antioxidant capacity(T-AOC)(P<0.05) and glutathioneperoxide(GSH-Px) activity(P<0.01), decreased malondiadehyde(MDA) content in musle of male significantly.The effect of LLE on antioxidant ability of female had a same trend with female, T-AOC was increased(P<0.1), GSH-Px activity was significantly improved(P<0.05), and MDA content was decresed(P<0.1). Compared with the control, 0.2% LLE supplementation also increased breast meat colour b^* value in female(P<0.05), but other index of meat quality and antioxidant ability did not differ. The results indicated that the LLE supplementation improved antioxidant ability of yellow broilers and had a benificial effect on meat quality.

Key words: lotus leaves extract; antioxidant ability; meat quality