Probiotics, enzymes, organic acids, oligosaccharides, antioxidants, and other functional materials are actively being explored as alternatives to antibiotics. Probiotics include live beneficial microorganisms that colonize the intestinal tract and competitively inhibit attachment and growth of harmful microbes. Probiotics also increase feed efficiency by assisting in nutrient absorption and digestion. The current study was conducted in order to evaluate the effect of a new probiotic, CS-A, as a dietary supplement of a fermented product on growth performance, feed intake, and feed conversion efficiency in broiler chickens, and to evaluate its value as an alternative for antibiotics used as a feed additive. Antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects of CS-A were investigated in vitro and the in vivo effects of a constant concentration of supplemented CS-A on growth rate and feed efficiency were evaluated. In addition, the safety of CS-A was assessed by examination of common symptoms and mortality. Determination of minimal inhibitory concentration revealed an excellent antibacterial effect of CS-A. Cytotoxicity was low and anti-inflammatory effects were achieved at the effective concentration of CS-A. Supplementation with 0.1% CS-A resulted in a feed efficiency score of 1.84 in broilers, compared to 2.00 in the control group. There were no adverse clinical findings, necropsy findings, hematology, and altered serum biochemistry parameters, and no mortality. Thus, it is concluded that CS-A is safe and effective as a feed additive.

The current investigation was undertaken to evaluate the antioxidant activities, tyrosinase inhibitory effects on the fruiting bodies of P. ostreatus extracted with acetone, methanol and hot water. The antioxidant activities were performed on β-carotene-linoleic acid, reducing power, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl free radical scavenging, and ferrous chelating abilities. In addition to this, phenolic acid and flavonoids contents were also analyzed. Methanolic extract of P. ostreatus showed the strongest β-carotene-linoleic acid inhibition as compare to others exracts. At 8 mg/ml, acetonic extract showed a high reducing power of 1.54. The scavenging effects on 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radicals, acetonic extract was effective than other extracts. The strongest chelating effect (85.66%) was obtained from the acetonic extract at 1.0 mg/ml concentration. Antioxidant activities of the extracts from the fruiting bodies of P. ostreatus were increased with the increasing concentration. After application of reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography, coupled to a diode array detector and electrospray ionisation mass spectra, six phenolic compounds namely, gallic acid, protocatechuic acid, naringenin, hesperetin, formononetin and biochanin were identified from acetonic extract. Tyrosinase inhibition of acetonic, methanolic, and hot water extracts of P. ostreatus were increased with the increasing of concentration. Results revealed that methanolic extract showed good, while acetonic and hot water extracts showed moderate activities of the tyrosinase inhibition at the concentration tested. This study suggests that fruiting bodies of P. ostreatus can potentially be used as a readily accessible source of natural antioxidants.

Pleurotus eryngii, known as king oyster mushroom, has been widely used in nutritional and medicinal purposes. This study was initiated to screen the antioxidant activities, tyrosinase inhibitory effects on the fruiting bodies of P. eryngii extracted with acetone, methanol and hot water. The antioxidant activities were performed on β-carotene-linoleic acid, reducing power, 1,1-diphenyl- 2-picrylhydrazyl free radical scavenging, and ferrous chelating abilities. In addition to this, phenolic acid and flavonoids contents were also analyzed. Methanolic and acetonic extracts of P. eryngii showed the strongest β-carotene-linoleic acid inhibition as compare to hot water extract. At 8 mg/ml, acetonic extract showed a high reducing power of 1.203. The scavenging effects on 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radicals, acetonic extract was effective than other extracts. The strongest chelating effect (88.10%) was obtained from the methanolic extract at 1.0 mg/ml concentration. Antioxidant activities of the extracts from the fruiting bodies of P. eryngii were increased with the increasing concentration. After application of reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography, coupled to a diode array detector and electrospray ionisation mass spectra, ten phenolic compounds namely, gallic acid, protocatechuic acid, chlorogenic acid, vanillin, ferulic acid, naringin, naringenin, hesperetin, formononetin and biochanin were identified from acetonic extract. Tyrosinase inhibition of acetonic, methanolic, and hot water extracts of P. eryngii were increased with the increasing of concentration. Results revealed that acetonic and methanolic extracts showed good, while hot water showed moderate activities of the tyrosinase inhibition at the concentration tested. This study suggests that fruiting bodies of P. eryngii can potentially be used as a readily accessible source of natural antioxidants.