Effects of two plant extracts and native Lactobacillus culture on immune response, lymphoid organs and antioxidant properties of broiler chickens

Abstract

Probiotics and phytogenics have been evaluated as potential alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters (AGP) in poultry feeds in terms of their ability to improve growth performance in commercial poultry production through improving growth performance, feed conversion ratio and immune response efficiency. This study investigated the benefits of Lactobacillus culture (LC), green tea extracts (GTE) and Berberis vulgaris extracts (BVRE) have been investigated on the immune response, lymphoid organs, and antioxidant properties of broiler chickens. A total of 320 one-day-old Ross 308 chicks were randomly allotted to 8 treatment groups, each including 4 replicates of 10 chicks. A 2×2×2 factorial arrangement of 8 dietary treatments was used to appraise the effects of the mixture of five LC (none vs. 1-5 × 108 cfu/g), GTE (none vs. 2500 ppm) and BVRE (none vs. 2500 ppm). The relative weight of lymphoid organs (spleen, thymus and bursa of Fabricius), antioxidant parameters of malondialdehyde (MDA) content and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) and immune response indices (white blood cells, antibody response to sheep red blood cell, respiratory burst and splenocytes proliferation) were assessed. According to the results of the current experiment, the relative weights of the spleen and bursa were significantly higher than the control group in broilers fed the LC diet (P ˂ 0.01). The combination of LC and GTE significantly decreased MDA as compared to broilers fed the control diet (P ˂ 0.05). Moreover, the GTE diet markedly increased the T-AOC compared to the control (P ˂ 0.01). The LC and plant extract treatments significantly improved the humoral and cellular immune systems (P ˂ 0.01). Based on obtained results, plant extracts in combination with Lactobacillus strains can improve the immune responses of broiler chickens.

Keywords

• antioxidant activity
• broiler
• immune parameters
• lactobacillus strains
• plant extracts