Addition of β-ionone to the diet fails to affect growth performance in female broiler chickens

There is suggestive evidence that 4-(2,6,6-trimethyl-1-cyclohexen-1-yl)-3-buten-2-one (β-ionone) has potential as alternative to antimicrobial growth enhancers. The compound may also have hypocholesterolaemic activity. The present experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of β-ionone on growth performance and cholesterol metabolism in broiler chickens. The experiment had a 2×2 factorial design with diets containing 0 or 10 g cholesterol/kg and 0 or 200 ppm β-ionone. After feeding the diets to 1-day-old female broilers for 26 days, weight gain, feed intake and feed:gain ratio were not affected by the dietary treatments. Thus, under the present experimental conditions, β-ionone failed to affect growth performance. Dietary cholesterol significantly increased plasma and liver cholesterol, and plasma triglyceride concentrations. Dietary β-ionone failed to affect the plasma lipid profile, irrespective of whether the diet was cholesterol free or cholesterol rich.