Abstract

The objective of the current study was to investigate the antioxidant activities of rosemary oil supplemented in male Japanese quails diet through the determination of some antioxidant parameters. Eighty, 2 weeks old, male Japanese quails were allocated into four groups; Group I: control, Group II: 60 mg rosemary oil (RO)/kg diet, Group III:100 mg RO /kg diet and Group IV:140 mg RO/kg diet for one-month experimental period. Liver samples were collected after the 3rd and 4th week of the experiment (10 samples in each collection) for analysis of antioxidant parameters. Results showed that supplementation of quails with RO significantly increased reduced glutathione (GSH) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) concentrations in all treated groups either after the 3rd week or 4th week compared with control. Also, SOD and CAT activities were significantly increased in all RO treated groups after the 4th week. While glutathione peroxidase enzyme (Gpx) and GST activities were significantly increased in the 1st RO treated group only. However, Glutathione reductase (GR) activity was significantly decreased in all treated groups. Therefore, rosemary oil showed antioxidant activities and could be considered as a potential natural antioxidant in quail diet

Key words: Rosemary oil ; antioxidant enzymes ; Japanese quails