Effects of Dietary Supplementation of Astragalus membranaceus, Epimedium brevicornum, and Psoralea corylifolia on Egg Production and Immune Response in Laying Hens
Date Issued
2009
Date
2009
Author(s)
Yang, Chia-Ching
Lin, Yu-Shen
Abstract
The present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) supplementation on production performance and immune function in commercial laying hens. One hundred 18-week-old White Leghorn layers were randomly allocated to 10 dietary treatments with 10 birds each. Hens were fed diets containing three levels (5, 15 and 30 g/kg) from three commercial CHM (Astragalus membranaceus, Ast; Epimedium brevicornum, Epi; Psoralea corylifolia, Pso), in comparison to basal diets without CHM as control group, from 18 to 80 wk of age. The whole experimental period was divided into developing period (18−20 wk of age) and laying period (21−80 wk of age), and the latter was subdivided into four phases as follows: I (21−32 wk of age), II (33−44 wk of age), III (45−60 wk of age) and IV (61−80 wk of age). Egg production, egg weight, feed intake, egg quality parameters (including eggshell breaking strength, yolk color score and Haugh unit) were measured, and egg mass and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were also calculated. Serum immunoglobulin (Ig) G, M and A level as well as antibody titers against Newcastle disease virus (NDV) were determined. Activity of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and content of uric acid (UA) were measured. The results showed that egg weight and feed intake were not significantly influenced by different type or level of CHM supplementation throughout the study (P > 0.05). However, addition of Ast at a level of 5 or 30 g/kg and Pso at 5, 15 or 30 g/kg increased egg production and egg mass, as well as reduced FCR compared to the control group during Phase IV. There was no significant difference between control group and other groups for egg quality parameters measured (P > 0.05). Neither type nor level of dietary CHM had significant effect on serum IgG, IgM and IgA levels, while antibody titers against NDV were significantly higher in hens fed diets containing 15 or 30 g/kg of Ast and 5 g/kg of Pso compared to the control group after NDV vaccination (on Day 21) during 75−80 wk of age. Serum ALT and AST activity and UA content were not significantly affected by different type or level of dietary CHM at the end of the trial (80 wk of age) (P > 0.05), which suggested that long-term feeding of three levels from three commercial CHM had no adverse effects on liver and kidney function in laying hens. To sum up, dietary supplementation of Ast at a level of 30 g/kg and Pso at 5 g/kg could not only exert beneficial effects on egg production, egg mass and FCR during Phase IV (61−80 wk of age) but also increase antibody response to NDV during 75−80 wk of age. Thus, these two formulae are expected to be added in diets for old layers aged more than 60 weeks so that the hens could produce more total egg mass and prolong the timing of elimination.
Subjects
Glaucoma
Intraocular Pressure (IOP)
Prevalence
Incidence
Markov Model
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (CEA)
Laser in Situ Keratomileusis (LASIK)
Chinese herbal medicine
laying hen
production performance
egg quality
immune response
SDGs
Type
thesis
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