Abstract: In a pilot hennery, chitosan agents were applied to approach their functions on meat chicken’s anti-oxidation activity and production performance by determining the superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) activities and malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration in blood serum, and the immune organ index, percentage of abdomen fat, and ratio of chicken meat mass to feedstuff. The experiment was designed as 6 groups, with 100 one-day-old chickens for each. It was indicated that after applying two chitosan agents with different molecular weight at low doses, the serum SOD activity was significantly higher (P<0.05) in 60-day-old chickens, but had less difference in the chickens of other ages. The chitosans applied had no significant effects on the serum MDA concentration and GSH-PX activity. Compared with those fed with antibiotics, the chickens fed with chitosans had an enhanced survival rate, but the percentage of their dissected abdominal fat (PDAF) and the ratio of meat mass to feedstuff decreased slightly. It was suggested that chitosan could be a potential natural green product to replace antibiotics for chicken feeding.

Key words: Soybean, Genotype, Root exudates, Root rot pathogenic fungi, Allelopathy