Effects Of The Liquid Submerged Fermentation Concentrate Of Hericium Caput-medusae (Bull.: Fr.) Pers. On Immune Function In Broilers

This experiment was conducted to study the effects of dietary supplementation of theliquid submerged fermentation concentrate of Hericium caput-medusae (Bull.:Fr.) Pers.(HFC)on the growth performance and immune function in broilers. The immune organs indexes,immune organs morphology, lymphocyte proliferation, cytokine production, newcastle disease(ND) antibody and immunoglobulin were determined to evaluate the immunological effects ofHFC on broilers. A total of300one-day-old healthy Arbor Acre (AA) broilers were randomlyallotted to5treatments with3replicates of20broilers each. The five treatments were thecontrol group (the basic diet), the antibiotic group (the basic diet with5mg·kg-1flavomycin),and other3HFC groups with the polysaccharide content in the diet of1000mg·kg-1,3000mg·kg-1, and5000mg·kg-1, respectively. The trial lasted for49days. The results were asfollows:One: Effects of HFC on growth performance in broilersThe experiment was designed to study the effects of HFC supplementation on growperformance of broilers. The results showed that dietary supplemented with1000mg·kg-1,3000mg·kg-1, and5000mg·kg-1of HFC significantly increased the average daily gain and averagedaily feed intake compared with the control group and the antibiotic group (P<0.05) during thewhole experiment. Dietary supplementation with1000mg·kg-1,3000mg·kg-1, and5000mg·kg-1of HFC significantly decreased the feed conversion ratio compared with the controlgroup and the antibiotic group (P<0.05). The group of1000mg·kg-1of HFC showed the bettereffects than other treatment groups. These results indicated that dietary addition with HFCcould improve the growth performance of broilers.Two: Effect of HFC on the immune organs in broilersThe experiment was designed to study the effects of HFC supplementation on theimmune organs indexes, immune organs morphology of broilers. Five broilers from eachreplicate were randomly selected and slaughtered to take thymus, spleen and bursa in order tostudy on the immune organs indexes, and immune organs morphology at the day of21, and42.The results showed that dietary supplemented with1000mg·kg-1of HFC significantly increasedthe thymus index of42-day-old broilers and the spleen index of21-day-old broilers (P<0.05).Different levels of HFC showed no effects to the bursa index (P>0.05) and immune organsmorphlogy of broilers at the day of21, and42. These results indicated that dietary addition withHFC could improve the immune organs indexes of broilers.Three: Effects of HFC on cellular immune function of broilers The experiment was designed to study the effects of different additive amount of HFC oncellular immune function of broilers. At the day of14,21,28,35,42, and49, MTT method andELISA method were used to determine the T/B lymphocyte proliferation in peripheral bloodand cytokine IL-2, IL-4, IFN-γ in serum of broilers, respectively. The results showed that HFCcould significantly stimulate the T/B lymphocyte proliferation in peripheral blood (P<0.05),and significantly improve the content of IL-2, IL-4, IFN-γ in serum (P<0.05). And the1000mg·kg-1HFC group was the best in al groupsl. These results indicated that HFC could inducecellular immune function in broilersFour: Effects of HFC on humoral immune function of broilersThe experiment was designed to study the effects of HFC supplementation on humoralimmune function of broilers. At the day of14,21,28,35,42, and49, Hemagglutinauoninhibition (HI) experiment and ELISA method were used to determine the newcastle disease(ND) antibody and IgG, IgM, and IgA in serum of broilers respectively.The results showed thatHFC could significantly improve the level of ND-HI antibody in serum (P<0.05), andsignificantly improve the content of IgG, IgM, IgA in serum (P<0.05). These results indicatedthat HFC could induce humoral immune function in broilers...