Influence of Wormwood Seeds on Enzymatic and Non–enzymatic Activity in Blood of Broilers with Coccidiosis

Abstract

Wormwood plants have been of great botanical and pharmaceutical interest and are employed in folk medicine for a long time. Wormwood has been used successfully for many years as a remedy against malaria and has been reported to exhibit antiprotozoal potential. Having in mind that, this study aimed to investigate the effects of wormwood seeds on enzymatic activity and non–enzymatic activity in broilers infected with coccidiosis. A biological experiment with broiler chickens was performed on a total of 360 Ross 308 broiler chickens. Chickens were divided into three experimental treatments with six replication each, respectively. Treatment I (WW1) was uninfected with coccidia oocyst and untreated, treatment II (WW2) was infected with coccidia oocyst and was kept untreated, while treatment III (WW3) was infected with coccidia oocyst and received wormwood seeds in feed in the quantity of 1.5%. Blood was collected for the evaluation of antioxidant status. Results of bloody diarrhea intensity of chickens have ranged from 0% (WW1; day 26th) to 99% (WW2; day 28th), respectively. Regarding the influence of dietary wormwood seeds on fecal oocyst counts obtained results showed the highest oocyst in treatment WW2 on the 30th day of the experiment (45115.7 oocyst number/g), which was significantly higher (p<0.05) when compared to treatments WW3 (623.3 oocyst number/g), and WW1 (0 oocyst number/g) on the same experimental day. Our results indicate a significant (p<0.05) increase in non-enzymatic activity and higher catalytic enzymatic activity in blood hemolysates of infected broilers. Based on our research it can be concluded that wormwood seeds can be used in feed for broilers as a prophylactic feed additive to prevent coccidia oocyst development.