Morphological and immunological blood parameters of broiler-chicks when feeding on thyme extract

Abstract

This paper presents the results of experimental studies of the effect of feeding different doses of thyme extract on the morphological and immunological blood parameters of broiler-chicks. The medicinal plant extract of thyme (Thymusserpyllum L.) was obtained in the research laboratory “Agroecology” of Kemerovo State Agricultural Institute by water-ethanol extraction with subsequent low-temperature vacuum drying. The research works were executed in conditions of industrial poultry farm for broiler-chicks of HubbardISAF 15 cross, experiment duration - 40 days. According to the principle of similar groups, 1 control and 5 test groups of one day old chicks were formed, 37 in each group. Birds of all groups received full all-in-one feed, and test groups received additional thyme extract in doses of 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 mg/kg of body weight. For laboratory studies, blood tests were taken from 6 chicks (3 cockerels and 3 hens) from each group on the 1st-day of life by decapitation method, and then on the 21st and 40th-day of research - from the wing vein. It was determined that the introduction of thyme extract into the diet of broiler chicks in the above doses led by the end of the experiment, with varying degree of accuracy, to an increase in the number of erythrocytes and hemoglobin in the blood, which indicates stimulation processes of erythro-and hematopoiesis. Decrease in the phagocytic number, phagocytic index and lysozyme activity of blood serum, by the end of the experiment, indicate a decline in the antigenic impact on the immune system of the tested birds.