The effect of Vitex agnus-castus on performance, blood parameters, immune system, microbial population and intestinal morphology of broiler chickens
Subject Areas : biologyBabak Rostampour 1 , محمد چمنی 2 , Alireza Seidavi 3 , A. Zarei 4 , naser karimi 5
1 - Department of Animal Science, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
2 -
3 - Department of Animal Science, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
4 - Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran
5 - Assistant professor , Department of Animal Sciences , , Faculty of Agriculture ,Islamic Azad University of Varamin – Pishva
Keywords: V. agnus-castus, broiler chicken, performance, microbial population, immune system,
Abstract :
The present experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of V. agnus-castus powder on the performance, blood parameters, immune system, microbial population and intestinal morphology of broiler chickens. To conduct the experiment, 300 one-day-old male chickens of ROSS 308 strain were used in the form of a completely random design with 4 treatments and 5 replicates, with each replicate containing 15 chickens. The experimental treatments were, respectively: 1) control with basic diet (without additives), 2) basic diet + 1% V. agnus-castus powder, 3) basic diet + 2% V. agnus-castus powder, and 4) basic diet + 3% V. agnus-castus powder. The results showed that the feed intake, final weight and weight gain of the treatments containing 2 and 3% of V. agnus-castus had a significant increase compared to the control (P<0.01). Cholesterol concentration in the treatments containing 2 and 3% V. agnus-castus had a significant decrease compared to the control (P<0.05). The width of the intestinal villi of the chickens that were fed with 2 and 3% V. agnus-castus had a significant increase compared to the control (P<0.05). In general, the results showed that the use of 3% V. agnus-castus powder in the broiler diet had a higher efficiency in improving the growth performance, strengthening the immune system and improving the intestinal microbial population.
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