Abstract:The purpose of this experiment was to study the effects of Qizao extract on egg quality, lipid metabolism and serum antioxidant indexes of Yugan silky chickens. 120 240-day-old Yugan silky chickens in good body condition were selected for the experiment and randomly divided into 4 groups with 6 replicates in each group and 5 chickens in each replicate.The control group was fed the basal diet. The experimental group added 100,200 and 400 mg/kg of Qizao extract to the basal diet, respectively.The test period was 56 days.The results showed that:(1) The eggshell yellowness of Yugan silky chicken increased linearly with the increase of Qizao extract (P<0.05), and Haugh unit, egg yolk index and eggshell redness changed quadratically (P<0.05),there were no significant differences among the other egg quality indexes among the groups.(2)Adding Qizao extract to diet had no significant difference on serum triglyceride, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol of Yugan silky chicken. (3) Qizao extract had no effect on the cholesterol content of Yugan black-bone egg yolk. (4) The expression levels of VLDLR in Yugan silky chicken ovary and HMGR in liver showed a quadratic curve with the increase of Qizao extract (P < 0.05). (5) The content of CAT, T-AOC and MDA in Yugan silky chicken serum showed a quadratic curve with the increase of Qizao extract (P < 0.05). It can be seen that adding Qizao extract to the diet can improve the antioxidant capacity of Yugan silky chickens, and regulate the content of egg yolk cholesterol by regulating the fat metabolism in serum and inhibiting the expression levels of HMGR and VLDLR genes. The optimal addition amount is 200 mg/kg.