Abstract: |
The present study was designed to assess
the impact of dietary supplementation of lemongrass
essential oil (LGEO) on growth performance, carcass
traits, liver and kidney function, immunity, antioxidant
indices and caecal microbiota of growing quail. A total
of 200 Japanese quails at 1-week-old were haphazardly
allotted to 5 groups of 40 chicks in five replicates (8 per
replicate). The first group was the control group, while
LGEO was added at levels of 150, 300, 450, and
600 mg/kg diet in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th groups,
respectively. Dietary supplementation of LGEO (150,
300 and 450 mg/ kg diet) increased body weight at 3
and 5 wk of age, and increased body weight gain during
all periods compared with the control group (P < 0.05).
All levels of LGEO improved feed conversion ratio during the periods from 1 to 3 and 1 to 5 wk of age. During
3 to 5 wk, feed conversion ratio was improved in quails
fed LGEO (300 and 450 mg/kg diet) compared with the
control and other treatments. Carcass traits, plasma
globulin, alanine aminotransferase, and urea values did
not differ among the treatments (P > 0.05), but the
activity of aspartate aminotransferase in the plasma was
significantly decreased (P < 0.05) in LGEO-treated
groups. The total protein and albumin values were significantly increased (P < 0.05) in quails fed levels of
LGEO (except 600 mg/kg diet) compared with the control. The inclusion of LGEO in quail diets improved (P
< 0.05) plasma lipid profile. The dietary supplementation of LGEO increased (linear and quadratic, P < 0.05)
plasma immunoglobulins (IgM, IgG, and IgA) levels,
lysozyme values and activities of superoxide dismutase,
total antioxidant capacity, reduced glutathione and catalase compared with the control group. The caecal Coliform, E. coli and Salmonella were lowered (P < 0.0001)
in the quails treated with all LGEO levels, but the total
bacterial count and Lactobacillus count were increased
with dietary supplementation of LGEO levels (300 and
450 mg/kg) compared with those in the control group.
The activities of digestive enzymes were significantly
higher in birds fed the diet supplemented with LGEO
levels than those fed the control diet. In conclusion, dietary supplementation of LGEO can improve the performance, lipid profile, immunity and antioxidant indices
and decline intestinal pathogens and thus boost the
health status of growing quail.
|
|
|