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Effects of different levels of Scandix pecten-veneris L. on growth performance, immune response, blood parameters and carcass characteristics in broiler chickens

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 M.Sc. Graduated, Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Veterinary, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran

2 Department of Biochemistery, Faculty of Veterinary, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran

3 Ph.D. Student, Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.

4 Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Veterinary, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran

5 Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Veterinary, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran

Abstract

This experiment was conducted to determine the effects of needle shepherd (Scandix pecten-veneris L.) on broiler performance, immune system, blood parameters and carcass characteristics. In this research, two hundred and forty one-day-old female chickens (Ross 308) in a completely randomized design were allocated to one of four treatments (four replicates of 15 birds per treatment): control, and the control diet supplemented with 0.5%, 1% and 1.5% needle shepherd. Results indicated that, the growth performance was affected significantly by treatments, as the average weight and feed conversion ratio in the treatment of 1.5% was significantly higher and lower than that of the control, respectively (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in terms of glucose, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol and characteristics of carcass among treatments during experiment. The stimulation of immune system was determined with sheep red blood cell (SRBC) in two stages.  It was found that the antibody titer against SRBC in the groups fed with 1 and 1.5% of plant were more than other groups in the first and second stages (P<0.05). The highest and lowest percentage of eosinophil’s cells (5.67% and 4.34%) were observed in the treatments of 1.5% and 0.5%, respectively (P<0.05). The results obtained in this study indicate that the use level of 1.5% shepherd's needle can improve poultry performance characteristics. On the other hand, due to the antioxidant and anti-bacterial activity of the study species, it can be concluded that this plant has a positive effect on the activity and immunity of poultry.

Keywords

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Iranian Journal of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Research
Volume 33, Issue 5 - Serial Number 85
December 2017
Pages 882-895
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