Effect Of Radix Hedysari And Its Compound On Performance, Antioxidation And Immune Function Of Broilers

The experiment was conducted to study the effects of supplementing different levels of Radix Hedysari and its compound on growth performance, metabolism, carcass, antioxidation and immune function of broilers.Chicks were assigned into 6 treatments with each treatment having 6 replicates of 10 birds. The six treatments were basal diet and basal diet with addition of 5mg/kg flavomycin,0.5%,1%,2% Radix Hedysari and its compound (Radix Hedysari and lanceolata) respectively. The results showed as follows:(1) Compared with the basal diet, addition of flavomycin and compound significantly increased feed conversion ratio of broilers during 0-3 weeks (P=0.007), Supplementation of 5mg/kg flavomycin increased the average daily weight gain of brolers during 0～3 weeks (P=0.005). There was no effect of Radix Hedysari and its compound on other growth performance traits of chicks (P>0.05).(2) Addition of Radix Hedysari and its compound significantly increased the apparent retention of calcium (P<0.001) and phosphorus (P=0.007) during 0-21d and the apparent retention of dry matter (P<0.001), crude protein (P<0.001), calcium (P<0.001)and phosphorus (P=0.029) in 22-42d. Supplementation of 1%,2% Radix Hedysari and its compound significantly improved the apparent retention of calcium of broilers, and it was also higher than that in flavomycin group. The retention in 1% Radix Hedysari and compound group was significantly higher than that in 0.5% and 2% Radix Hedysari group. The apparent retention of dry matter and crude protein of compound were significantly higher than flavomycin. The apparent retention of calcium was lower than the other four treatments.(3) The breast muscle percentage of broilers in compound group was significantly higher than that in flavomycin group (P=0.006). The percentage of abdominal fat in compound group was lower than those in the Radix Hedysari adding treatments. The percentage of abdominal fat in 1% and 2% Radix Hedysari adding group were significantly higher than that in flavomycin adding group.(4) Addition of Radix Hedysari and its compound significantly increased the total surperoxide dismutase (SOD)acticity in serum and organizations(heart, liver and kidney)(P<0.05). Compared with the basal diet, Supplementation of 2% Radix Hedysari and compound significantly improved SOD acticity in serum(P<0.001), liver (P<0.001) and kidney (P<0.001) at 21d, while there were no significant different between Radix Hedysari and compound group. Addition of 2% Radix Hedysari also improved SOD acticity in heart (P<0.001).Supplementation of 0.5% and 1% Radix Hedysari significantly increased the SOD acticity. Adding Radix Hedysari and compound significantly increased SOD acticity in serum(P<0.001) and liver(P=0.001). Addition of 1% Radix Hedysari also increased SOD acticity in heart (P<0.001) and kidney (P=0.012), and 1% Radix Hedysari and compound significantly increased SOD acticity in heart.Addition of 1% and 2% Radix Hedysari and its compound significantly increased glutathione peroxidase acticity in serum (P=0.004) and liver (P<0.001)at 21d. Adding 2% Radix Hedysari and compound significantly improved glutathione peroxidase acticity in heart (P=0.003), and glutathione peroxidase acticity was increased significantly by 0.5% Radix Hedysari in kidney (P=0.030). Supplementation of 1%, 2% Radix Hedysari and compound significantly increased glutathione peroxidase acticity in serum, liver and heart at 42d.Supplementation of 2% Radix Hedysari significantly decreased malondialdehyde (MDA) content in serum(P<0.044).(5) Addition of Radix Hedysari and its compound significantly increased T-cell positive rate at 21d (P<0.001) and 42d (P<0.001). T-cell positive rate in 2% Radix Hedysari group was significantly higher than that in 0.5% Radix Hedysari and compound groups at 21d. T-cell positive rate of 2% Radix Hedysari was significantly higher than flavomycin, and that in 0.5% Radix Hedysari and compound group were significantly lower than that in flavomycin added group at 42d. There was no significant effect on Immunoglobulin G among treatments.(6) Addition of Radix Hedysari and its compound significantly increased total cholesterol (TC) (P=0.003), low density lipoprotein (LDL) (P=0.011) and high density lipoprotein (HDL) (P=0.001) levels in serum at 42d. Adding 1%,2% Radix Hedysari and compound significantly increased AST activity in serum, and there were no significant difference among the three treatments.These results suggest that addition of Radix Hedysari and its compound into dietary can significantly increase the growth performance, nutrient retention, oxidation resistance and cellular immune function of broilers. And adding 2% Radix Hedysari got the best effects for many of the parameters. The compound of Radix Hedysari and lanceolata was more effective than the single addition of Radix Hedysari.