Abstract: This experiment was conducted to study the effects of dihydromyricetin (DMY) on immune organ indexes, serum biochemical parameters and breast meat quality of Yaoshan chickens. 96 healthy Yaoshan chickens (40 days old) were selected and divided into 4 treatments for 70 d. Each treatment contained 3 replicates with 8 chickens per replicate. Chickens in group Ⅰ were fed with basal diet as control group, treatment groups Ⅱ, Ⅲ and Ⅳ received basal diets supplemented with 0.025%, 0.05% and 0.1% DMY, respectively. The results were as follows,thymus index was extremely significantly increased with supplementation of 0.05% DMY (P<0.01); spleen index and bursa index of three treatment groups were not significantly affected (P>0.05); supplementation of different doses of DMY had no significant effects on the content of albumin and total protein (P>0.05), but the 0.05% DMY could significantly reduce the GOT activity and improve the LZM activity in serum (P<0.05); DMY could significantly reduce the shear force and drip loss of breast muscle (P<0.01), but the pH, meat color and cooked meat rate were not significantly affected (P>0.05). These results indicated that supplementation of DMY could improve the development of immune organs of Yaoshan chickens. The immune function and liver cell metabolism function could also be improved, and DMY could improve the breast meat quality.

Key words: dihydromyricetin; Yaoshan chickens; immune organ indexes; serum biochemical parameters; breast meat quality