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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Animal Nutrition and Metabolism
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1405228
This article is part of the Research Topic Functional Nutritional Strategies as Alternatives to Antimicrobials View all 8 articles

The effects of Rumex nepalensis leaves on performance, blood markers, intestinal microbiology and histomorphology of broiler chicken

Provisionally accepted
Mohammad T. Banday Mohammad T. Banday 1Manzoor Wani Manzoor Wani 1Sheikh Adil Sheikh Adil 2*Shaheen Farooq Shaheen Farooq 1Showkat Nabi Showkat Nabi 1
  • 1 Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
  • 2 Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Srinagar, India

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The study investigated the impact of utilizing Rumex nepalensis leaf powder (RNL) as a phytogenic feed additive on performance, blood markers, intestinal microbiology and histomorphology in broiler chicken. One hundred eighty day-old Cobb broiler chicks were randomly divided into four treatment groups having three replicates with fifteen birds each. Four iso-caloric and iso-nitrogenous diets primarily based on maize-soybean were formulated viz. CN (Control)-fed basal diet only; RNL2.5 (basal diet+2.5 g/kg RNL); RNL5 (basal diet+5 g/kg RNL) and RNL10(basal diet+10 g/kg RNL). The results revealed a significant (p<0.05) increase in body weight gain and feed conversion ratio in dietary treatments compared to CN with best values in RNL10 followed by RNL5. The blood markers like glucose, total protein, creatinine, alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST) showed no significance(p>0.05) among all the treatments, however total cholesterol significantly (p<0.05) decreased in RNL5 and RNL10 as against CN. Regarding immune parameters, IgG and IgM levels significantly (p<0.05) enhanced in RNL5 and RNL10. Antioxidant enzyme status showed that SOD increased and MDA decreased significantly (p<0.05) in RNL10 compared to CN. Gut health in terms of cecal microbiology, and histomorphology of duodenum & jejunum were altered by inclusion of RNL in the broiler diet. A significant decrease (p<0.05) in coliform count was recorded by incorporation of dietary treatments with highest reduction in RNL10. Lactobacillus count and total viable count did not vary significantly (p>0.05) among dietary treatments and CN. Duodenal and jejunal villus height and villus height:crypt depth ratio weresignificantly (p<0.05) increased in RNL5 and RNL10 compared to RNL2.5 and CN. Thus, it could be concluded that inclusion of Rumex nepalensis leaf powder in the diet resulted in improved performance and better immuno-antioxidant status of broilers.Further, an improvement in the gut health was observed in terms of positive effects on cecal microbiota and intestinal histomorphology of broiler chicken.

    Keywords: broiler chicken, Growth, histomorphology, immunology, Microbiology, Phytogenic, Rumex

    Received: 22 Mar 2024; Accepted: 11 Jun 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Banday, Wani, Adil, Farooq and Nabi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Sheikh Adil, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Srinagar, India

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