Effects of calf thymus extract and L-carnitine on immunity and growth performance of broiler chickens

Abstract

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Increasing the bird’s wealth and increasing the growth rate are among the goals of increasing the animal wealth so; we studied the effects of L-carnitine and calf thymus extract on growth performance and immunity in broiler chickens.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> Eighty broiler chicks were divided into four groups, each group included twenty chicks. Group 1, was negative control with no treatment of feed or water. Group 2, the regular drinking water was replaced by L-carnitine-infused water (1 gram per liter). Group 3, the regular drinking water was replaced by calf thymus extract- infused water (1 ml per liter). Group 4, the regular drinking water was replaced by both L-carnitine and calf thymus extract- infused water. This treatment was administered from day 1 to day 30 of the cycle. Body weight, feed intake and feed conversion were assessed. The hemogram, leuckogram, total protein, globulin, albumin, phagocytic activity, phagocytic index and interleukin 2 were measured. </p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> The hemogram and leuckogram parameters recorded a significant increase in treated groups compared to non treated group. The final body weight for all treatments was nearly the same, but slightly higher with application of L-carnitine. Phagocytic activity, index, TP, globulin and IL2 were significantly increased in treated groups.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> Both L-carnitine and thymus extract have significantly improved the general health condition, in addition, calf thymus extract improved not only the general body condition but also act has immunomodulatory effect which require more further studies.</p>

Effect of L-Carnitine and/or Calf Thymus Gland Extract Supplementation on Immunity, Antioxidant, Duodenal Histomorphometric, Growth, and Economic Performance of Japanese Quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica)

“…The results of the present study revealed that the water supplementation with LC and/or TE expressively (p < 0.05) increase the phagocytic activity % and phagocytic index in treated groups compared to the control one. These results are in agreement with El-Gendy et al [48] for male mice and Soliman et al [10] for the broiler. Intraperitoneal injections of LC and/or TE increase phagocytic activity percent and phagocytic index in male mice [48].…”

“…The present study proved that the water supplementation by LC and/or TE markedly (p < 0.05) increases the lymphocyte % and decreases heterophils % and H/L ratio in the treated groups compared to the control one. These results are similar to the results of many authors [10,49,58]. Naik et al [49] found that there was a marked significant increase in the number of lymphocytes in TE treated groups, when compared to the control one, which is one of the probable reasons for overall immunopotentiation, and this could be due to the fact that thymic hormones activate T-cell and activate lymphocyte production.…”

“…FCR improvement was previously linked to a reduction in feed intake and an increase in body weight gain in broiler chicks [37]. Our outcomes differ from Soliman et al [10] and Xu et al [38] findings who found that the administration of LC and/or TE in feeds and/or water did not affect broiler FCR.…”

“…Our outcomes, however, differ from those reported by Sarica et al [35], who found no effects of dietary LC supplementation in Japanese quail body weight from 0 and 35 d of age. Likewise, Soliman et al [10] did not notice the effects of TE associated or with LC in drinking water on broiler performance.…”

“…Thus, thymus extracts play a significant role in the formation, maturation, activation, migration, and stimulation of interleukin-2 (IL-2) production of T cells throughout the body [6,9]. Hormones that govern immune function are also released by the thymus [10]. The primary components of thymus extract are thymalin and thymosin.…”