The aim of this study was to examine the influence of immune modulators on the immune competence of broiler chickens. In three experiments (n=240 chicks in each), the immune modulators vitamin C (500 mg/l), vitamin E (200 mg/l), dietary nucleotides (100 mg/l) and DNA (100 mg/l) extracted from chicken liver were separately offered on days 1-21, 1-42 and 22-42 in experiments 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Under standard broiler management conditions, birds were divided into five treatment groups of 48 with four replicates. Commercial pre-starter feed, starter feed and finisher feed were offered on days 1-12, 13-25 and 26-42, respectively. Birds were vaccinated against Newcastle disease virus and infectious bursal disease. Relative lymphoid organ weights were recorded on day 42. Hemagglutination inhibition (HI) assay was performed against Newcastle disease virus on a weekly basis, whilst a hemagglutination (HA) assay was performed to determine immunity against total sheep red blood cell (SRBC) , mercaptoethanol-2 resistant (IgG) and mercaptoethanol-2 sensitive (IgM) antibodies on weeks 3, 4, 5 and 6. Lymphoid organ weight showed non-significant difference (P>0.05), with numerically higher weight in immune modulator groups.The vitamin E supplemented group had highest HI antibody titers (7.22±0.25, 7.36±0.18 and 6.55±0.38).In experiments 1 and 2, supplementation with immune modulators had significant (P<0.05) effects on total SRBC, IgG and IgM titers. In conclusion, vitamin E showed better immuno-modulatory effect followed by vitamin C, nucleotides and DNA, respectively. Supplementation of immuno-modulators at early age (1 to 21 days) showed more promising effect on immune performance of broiler chickens.
Genetic diversity among four indigenous breeds of sheep namely Mengali, Balochi, Beverigh and Harnai of Balochistan was detected by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique. Nineteen RAPD primers were initially applied and seventeen were chosen for further analysis, based on band pattern quality, reproducibility and presence of bands. An average of 92 RAPD fragments were obtained by using 17 primers and out of the 36 fragments (39.13%) illustrated monomorphism while, 56 bands (60.87%) were polymorphic in all the four sheep breeds. The number of bands amplified in all the sheep breeds ranged from 2 to 10. The highest number of polymorphic loci 40 was observed in the Mengali breed, while the lowest 28 was in Balochi. Further, 33 and 31 polymorphic loci were seen in Beverigh and Harnai breeds, respectively. The overall gene diversity was highest in the Mengali (0.1474) while the lowest in Balochi breed (0.0998). Results of genetic similarities showed closer proximity between Balochi and Beverigh (0.992), Balochi and Harnai (0.992), and between Beverigh and Harnai (0.996). The resemblance was observed between Mengali and Balochi (0.918), between Mengali and Beverigh breeds (0.931) and between Mengali and Harnai breeds (0.925). The high level of genetic similarity between Balochi, Beverigh and Harnai sheep indicated the close relationship that might be due to common habitat. Further the present study highlighted the presence of diversity among and within breeds that can be used in the selection or crossbreeding programs of sheep. The present study suggests that RAPD-PCR can effectively be used to determine the genetic distances among the sheep breeds.
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