Table 6.

Effect of dietary β-sitosterol inclusion at various levels on intestinal antioxidant capacity in broilers.

Items1	β-Sitosterol level (mg/kg)					SEM2	P Value
	0	40	60	80	100		Linear	Quadratic
Jejunum
MDA (nmol/mg protein)	0.38a	0.32a,b	0.20b	0.22b	0.25a,b	0.02	0.005	0.025
GSH (mg/g protein)	1.83	1.87	1.85	1.88	1.87	0.07	0.863	0.953
SOD (U/mg protein)	186	200	196	192	206	3	0.205	0.991
GSH-Px (U/mg protein)	2.79	2.82	2.73	3.04	2.89	0.08	0.475	0.978
CAT (U/mg protein)	1.20b	1.83a,b	1.72a,b	2.53a	2.53a	0.14	<0.001	0.742
Ileum
MDA (nmol/mg protein)	0.39a	0.29a,b	0.25b	0.28b	0.27b	0.01	0.002	0.012
GSH (mg/g protein)	1.63c	1.66b,c	2.03a,b	2.13a	2.09a	0.05	<0.001	0.263
SOD (U/mg protein)	155	153	147	153	161	3	0.600	0.271
GSH-Px (U/mg protein)	2.20	2.48	2.14	2.21	2.25	0.09	0.796	0.930
CAT (U/mg protein)	3.52	3.61	3.83	4.19	3.73	0.10	0.174	0.260

^a–cMeans within a row with different superscripts are different at P < 0.05.

¹MDA, malondialdehyde; GSH, glutathione; SOD, superoxide dismutase; GSH-Px, glutathione peroxidase; CAT, catalase.

²SEM, total standard error of means (n = 6).