THE COMPARATIVE EFFECT OF HERBAL AND ALLOPATHIC IMMUNE STIMULATORS ON THE EFFICACY OF NEWCASTLE DISEASE VACCINE IN BROILER

Abstract

The modulation of the broiler immune system by using immune-stimulating compounds provides a promising solution and it enhances the immune response to a broad range of viral and bacterial infections without causing any risk. The current in-vitro study included 18-day-old broiler chicks (Ross-308) divided into three equal groups i.e. A, B, and C comprising 6 birds each. The study was conducted to investigate the comparative efficacy of ND vaccine at days 5 and 18 orally in combination with two commercially available immune stimulators i.e. Powder Lisovit® (A blend of growth stimulators, carbohydrates, and vitamins manufactured by Biomin, Austria) administered @ 1gm/ 4 lit of drinking water twice a week for 5 weeks in group A and Liquid Virnet® (A blend of immune boosting and growth-enhancing natural herbs manufactured by Seza Pharma, Pakistan) administered @ 1ml/ lit of drinking water twice a week for 5 weeks in group B, while group C was attributed as control group and only ND vaccine was given with the same regime as in A and B. The blood sampling of all groups was done at days 0, 10, 20, and 35 for antibody titers estimation through a haem-agglutination inhibition test. The feed conversion ratio (FCR) was also calculated weekly. The mean values of antibody titers of group A and B individually were found highly significant (P=0.001) as compared to group C while the mean values of antibody titers of group A and B were non-significant (P=0.35) with each other. Similarly, the mean values of the weekly FCR of groups A and B were not significantly different (P=0.27) from each other, while the mean values of the weekly FCR of groups A and B individually were highly significant (P=0.001) as compared to the group C. The immune stimulators under study showed a significant effect on growth performance and an additive effect on ND vaccine titers. In the light of study results, it may be strongly recommended to use the immune stimulators as a routine practice to mitigate the deadly poultry diseases like ND.