Beneficial Effects of Adding a Mixture of Medicinal Herbs to Quail Diet on some Physiological and Biochemical Blood Parameters

Abstract

This study was conducted in the poultry field of the Department of Animal production / College of Agriculture / University of Al-Qadisiyah to know the effect of using a mixture of herbs (licorice, thyme, turmeric and red pepper) on some physiological and biochemical characteristics of quail. 120 quail were used in this study. Which were randomly distributed in four treatments (2 replicates for each treatment, 15 birds for each replicate). The mixture of herbs was added to the diet in equal proportions and with different concentrations.(T1) A mixture of medicinal herbs was used at 2% of the ration (T2) A mixture of medicinal herbs was used at 4% of the ration (T3) A mixture of medicinal herbs was used at 6% of the ration (CONTROL), The mixture of medicinal herbs was used with a percentage of 0% of the feed. Feed and water were provided freely to the birds throughout the experiment period.The effect of a mixture of herbs (licorice, thyme, turmeric and red pepper) on some physiological characteristics such as the number of red cells (RBC) and white blood cells (WBC), types of white blood cells, the packed cell volume (PCV), hemoglobin concentration (Hb) and biochemical traits such as glucose, total protein and cholesterol concentration was studied. The results indicated that there were no significant differences between the experimental treatments (medical herbal mixture) compared with the control treatment in both eosinophil and basophil white blood cells, as well as the percentage of total protein. A significant increase (p<0.05) in (red blood cell count(RBC), packed cell volume (PCV), hemoglobin percentage(Hb), white blood cell count(WBC), and white lymphocyte count, in the experimental treatments (medical herbal mixture) compared with the control treatment. There was a significant decrease in both glucose and cholesterol concentration in the experimental treatments (medical herbal mixture) compared with the control treatment. From this study we conclude that the use of the medical herbal mixture led to the improvement of some of the studied traits.