Abstract
Recent anxiety about resistance to chemical drugs has elevated the position of phytogenic feed additives including Nigella sativa in preventive strategy in the poultry industry. During this study, a completely randomized experiment was designed to investigate the efficacy of different levels (0 to 16%) of N. sativa seeds supplemented in the diet of broilers on performance, immune responses, and hematological and biochemical parameters. The results indicated the following: (a) Supplementation of 1% N. sativa seeds in diet had the highest positive effects and 16% N. sativa had the highest significant (p=0.03) adverse effects on weight gain, while up to 2% N. sativa seeds in the diet reduced feed conversion ratio (FCR) whereas 4% and over that increased the FCR. (b) Chickens fed with a diet containing 1% N. sativa seeds had the highest antibody titers, but those fed with 16% N. sativa seeds had the lowest antibody titers at end of the experiment. (c) Dietary inclusion of N. sativa seeds increased hemogram parameters and the group fed with 16% N. sativa seeds had the highest values on day 21 until the end of the experiment. (d) Supplementation of N. sativa seeds decreased in WBC and lymphocytes but increased heterophils, H/L, monocytes, eosinophils, and basophils percentages. Supplementation of up to 2% of N. sativa seeds in broiler's diets elaborated serum level of those parameters, while supplementation of ≥ 4% N. sativa seeds decreased their serum levels. In conclusion, supplementation of N. sativa seed (1-2%) in broiler diets, as a multipurpose natural growth promoter, improves performance, elevates humoral immune responses, affects serum biochemical profiles of broiler chickens, and induces changes in their hemogram and leukogram, while there are no side, residual, and hazardous effects.
Highlights
Phytogenic feed additives “phytobiotic” are assuming a position of prime importance in the poultry industry [1,2,3] and could be used in feed or water [4]
N. sativa had some effects on the performance of the chickens (Table 2), and as shown in Figure 1, the chickens of group T3 fed with a diet containing 1% N. sativa seeds had the highest weight at the end of the experiment but differences with those of the groups (T0–T5)
Different levels of N. sativa seeds in diet affected antibody titers against Newcastle disease (ND) in the vaccinated groups and the chickens fed with 1% N. sativa supplementation had the highest level of antibody titers, while chickens of group T7 (16% N. sativa seed in diet) had the lowest level of antibody titers on days 28, 35, and 42 of age (Figure 2)
Summary
Phytogenic feed additives “phytobiotic” are assuming a position of prime importance in the poultry industry [1,2,3] and could be used in feed or water [4]. E possible biochemical active components of N. sativa and their pharmacological effects have been investigated [11, 12], and their pharmacological actions as immune stimulation, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antiparasitic activities[5, 13,14,15,16,17] have been studied. In the production of healthy food, Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine supplementation of N. sativa seeds to poultry diets could be recommended as a natural growth promoter instead of antibiotics. E inclusion of N. sativa seeds in layers’ diet increases egg production as well as eggs’ quality [22] and serum triglycerides in layers [23]. Finding the best beneficial and safe phytogenic feed additives as the most suitable substitute to antibiotic promoters is much more today’s research topic [1, 2, 4, 33,34,35]
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