Effect of lemon verbena powder and vitamin C on performance and immunity of heat‐stressed broilers

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of lemon verbena powder and vitamin C on performance and immunity of broilers under heat stress. The experiment was carried out with a total of 160-day-old male Ross 308 broiler chickens in a completely randomized design. From 25 days of age, the birds were assigned to four diets including control diet and treatment diets which were supplemented with 2 levels of lemon verbena (0.5% and 1.0%) and one level of vitamin C (250 mg/kg) in 16-floor pens with 10 chickens each and reared to 42 days of age. To induce chronic heat stress, birds were exposed to an ambient temperature of 35 ± 2 °C for 8 h daily (from 09:00 AM until 17:00 PM) between 25 and 42 days of age. At the end of experiment, one chick/pen was randomly selected, and the performance and blood parameters were evaluated. Dietary supplementation of 1.0% lemon verbena increased (p < 0.05) average weight gain and feed intake by 5.81% and 3.29%, and reduced feed conversion ratio by 2.59% respectively compared to control group. Birds fed diets containing 1.0% lemon verbena had significantly higher relative weight of bursa of fabricius and breast (p < 0.05). LDL decreased by 15.85% and 17.57%, for birds fed 0.5% and 1.0% lemon verbena respectively. The ratio of heterophyl to lymphocyte was reduced (p < 0.05) by 20.68% via significant decrease in heterophyl by 15.55% and significant increase in lymphocyte by 4.51% in birds fed lemon verbena at the rate of 1.0% compared to those fed the control diet. 1.0% lemon verbena and vitamin C elevated (p = 0.0005) the level of glutathione peroxidase by 51.81% and 27.90%, respectively. In conclusion, lemon verbena and vitamin C improved some performance data and blood metabolites which somehow suppressed the negative effects of heat stress.

The effect of selenium and polysaccharide of Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz. (PAMK) on endoplasmic reticulum stress and apoptosis in chicken spleen induced by heat stress

“…37 Lemon verbena and vitamin C improved some performance data and blood metabolites which somehow suppressed the negative effects of heat stress. 38 In our current research, add PAMK also could improve the immune functions, it showed that PAMK had the similar function as the above phytochemicals.…”

Effect of resveratrol on growth performance, rectal temperature and serum parameters of yellow‐feather broilers under heat stress

“…As a result of various adverse effects on performance, health, and even the animal's welfare, many researchers have reported that dietary supplementation strategy is an effective and feasible approach to alleviate the negative effects of heat stress in poultry. Interestingly, the positive effects of supplementation of vitamins, mineral, amino acids, and phytochemicals have been observed (Liu et al., ; Panda, Ramarao, Raju, & Chatterjee, ; Rafiee, Mazhari, Ghoreishi, & Esmaeilipour, ; Xu & Tian, ). Phytochemicals, which are bioactive compounds of plants, have been shown beneficial for performance and health of poultry under heat stress.…”

Vitamin C mitigates heat damage by reducing oxidative stress, inducing HSP expression in TM4 Sertoli cells

“…In addition, dietary supplementation with Vc has been shown to be beneficial for the reduction of stress in livestock (Imik et al, 2012;Mahmoud, Edens, Eisen, & Havenstein, 2003;Sahin et al, 2009;Sahin, Onderci, Sahin, Gursu, & Smith, 2004;Szczubial, 2015). Supplementation with Vc can also mitigate heat-related damage and enhance heat resistance in animals (Jang, Ko, Moon, & Sohn, 2014;Panda et al, 2008;Rafiee, Mazhari, Ghoreishi, & Esmaeilipour, 2016;Redmond et al, 2010). In male reproductive system, Vc is an essential micronutrient for the development of male germ cells (Altoe, Reis, Gomes, Dolder, & Priovani, 2017;Angulo et al, 2011), Angulo et al (2008) found that Sertoli cells express Vc functional transport systems, which can participate directly in Vc transport throughout the BTB.…”