Various levels and forms of dietary α-lipoic acid in broiler chickens: Impact on blood biochemistry, stress response, liver enzymes, and antibody titers

Abstract The present experiment was conducted to evaluate the impact of various levels and forms of α-lipoic acid (ALA) on blood biochemistry, immune and stress response, and antibody titers in broiler chickens. The four levels (7.5, 15, 75, and 150 ppm) and 2 sources (powder, P-ALA and encapsulated, E-ALA) of ALA along with negative (C−) and positive control (C+; contains antibiotics) diets consisted of 10 dietary treatments, and these treatments were allocated to 1,200 1-d-old chicks and were replicated 12 times with 10 birds per replicate. Among the blood biochemistry parameters, creatinine levels were almost 3 times lower in E-ALA-supplemented diets compared to the C− diet (0.09 vs. 0.25 mg/dL; P 0.05). The concentration of cortisol was reduced in chickens fed ALA-supplemented diets as compared to the C− diet (P