Effect of adding nettle plant on some physiological and biochemical parameters of broiler chickens

Abstract

The objective of this study is to find out the impact of the nettle plant (Urtica dioica L.) on broiler, because of its wide spread in our regions, and insufficient information about its effects on the broiler, as most of the current researches refers its uses in folk medicine. So, this research had been conducted to evaluate the effects of adding 0.25 and 0.5% crushed nettle/kg diet on the blood picture and some biochemical indices of broiler. 180 broiler chicks (Ross 308), one-day-old were randomly distributed into 3 groups (60 birds/group) with 3 replicates/group (20 birds/replicate), and treated until 42 days age as follows: 1st group (Control): standard diets without additives, 2nd group: 0.25% nettle/kg diet, 3rd group: 0.50% nettle/kg diet. Results showed that crushed nettle plant led to an increase in the values of packed cell volume, hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, and it's shortened clotting time, as well as a significant increase (P≤0.05) in the number of basophils compared to the control group. In regard to the biochemical profile in the blood serum of broiler, most of biochemical indices values became better and significant when adding nettle (high-density lipoproteins, low-density lipoproteins, risk index, total protein, globulin, aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase). In conclusion, nettle can be given to broiler in these proportions to improve the hematological and biochemical indices due to its properties and contents.

Keywords

• blood hemoglobin
• clotting time
• differential leukocyte count
• packed cell volume
• urtica dioica