Table 3.

Effect of folic acid on poultry health.

Animal	Dose rate	Major findings	References
Broiler	Basal diet added L-ascorbic acid (AA) 200 mg/kg and FA 1.5 mg/kg	Increase thyroid hormone, hemoglobin, insulin growth factor, albumin, globulin, total protein, antioxidant activity, and antibodies against viruses	Gouda et al. [25]
Laying hens	Basal diet added FA 24 mg/kg	Reducing pathogens in the cecum	Bai et al. [30]
Broiler	Basal diet added ten ppm FA	Increases bile acid concentration and heart weight	Fisayo et al. [61]
Laying hens	Basal diet added FA 4 mg/kg	Lowers serum glucose and uric acid levels	Jing et al. [50]
Laying hens	Basal diet added FA 4 mg/kg	Enhances biochemical constituents, IgG, and exhibits pleiotropic activity	Munyaka et al. [55]
Broiler	15 mg/L in the culture of primary chicken hepatocytes	Inhibits de novo fatty acid synthesis and can promote triglyceride hydrolysis	Liu et al. [9]
Broiler	Poultry supplemented with FA 800 mg/l	Can reduce liver lipogenesis, suppress adipocyte proliferation and differentiation	Liu et al. [10]
Broiler	Poultry supplemented with FA 16 mg/L	Increase adipocyte proliferation	Yu et al. [8]
Broiler	Basal diet added FA 0.25–5.00 mg/kg	Affect lipid and glucose metabolism in chicken progeny	Wu et al. [11]
Broiler fertile eggs	50–150 μg folic acid was injected into eggs	Upregulates IGF2 expression and aids organ development	Liu et al. [62]