Fordecades,antibioticshavebeenappliedinpoultrydietsasgrowth
promoter.However,theoccurrenceofantibiotic-resistantbacteriare-
sultedinthebanningofantibioticfeedadditivesinpoultrydiets.Also,
poultrydietsaregenerallybasedoncornandsoyabeanmealandthese
ingredientsarepoorinantioxidants.Thus,inclusionofsyntheticanti-
oxidantsinbroilerchickendietscould help alleviatethenegativeeffects
of stressfulenvironmentalcondition.However,ithasbeenshownthat
syntheticantioxidantcompoundshavetoxicormutagenicorbothef-
fectsinpoultryso,thereisgrowinginterestinsourcesofnaturalgrowth
promotersandantioxidants(Nagulendranetal.,2007).
One naturalsourcethatcouldbeagoodcandidateasantibiotic
and antioxidantispurslane(Portulaca oleracea), whichservedas
an ediblevegetableinseveralcountries(Karimi etal.,2004; Zhao