Effect of ginkgo biloba leaf powder on growth performance,meat quality and antioxidant activity of muscle in growing-finishing pigs

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of ginkgo biloba (g. biloba) leaf powder on growth performance,meat quality and antioxidant activity of muscle in growing-finishing pigs. a total of 75 finishing barrows were randomly distributed to 5 groups,receiving basal diet (control),basal diet supplemented with 0.50% coarse g. biloba leaf powder (cg) or basal diet supplemented with 0.05% (ug1),0.25% (ug2) and 0.50% (ug3) ultrafine g. biloba leaf powder,respectively. meat quality of longissimus dorsi muscle and leg muscle was improved by addition of ug,which was consistent with the simultaneously enhanced antioxidant capacity of muscles. additionally,pigs fed diet supplemented with cg also exhibited improved antioxidant status of measured muscles than that of control. the antioxidant capacity of both longissimus dorsi muscle and leg muscle of pigs fed cg and ug especially the ug were better than that of the control. in conclusion,addition of g. biloba leaf powder resulted in improvement in meat quality and antioxidant capacity of muscle and this effect was more pronounced when supplementing ultrafine g. biloba leaf powder. © copyright 2016 zoological society of pakistan.