Effects of Dangguibuxue Tang, a Chinese herbal medicine, on growth performance and immune responses in broiler chicks

• Xu Ting Li ^[1] ; Bin Wang ^[1] ; Jin Liang Li ^[1] ; Rui Yang ^[1] ; Si Cong Li ^[1] ; Min Zhang ^[1] ; Wei Huang ^[1] ; Liang Cao ^[1]
  1. [1] Sichuan Animal Science Academy Institute of Veterinary Pharmacology
• Localización: Biological Research, ISSN-e 0717-6287, ISSN 0716-9760, Vol. 46, Nº. 2, 2013, págs. 183-188
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen

  • The effects of Dangguibuxue Tang (DBT) on growth performance and immunity response in immunosuppressed broiler chicks were investigated in this study. 240 one-d-old broiler chicks (DaHeng S01) were randomly divided into 4 groups, 2.0% DBT-treatment (A), 0.5% DBT-treatment (B), cyclophosphamide-control (C), and control group (D). From 4 d to 7 d of age, chicks in group A, B and C were given cyclophosphamide (CY) at a dosage of 100mg/kg body weight (BW) daily by intraperitoneal injection to induce immunosuppression. Chicks in group D were given an equal volume of physiological saline daily by intraperitoneal injection and considered normal chicks. Groups A and B were supplemented with 2.0% or 0.5% of DBT in the drinking water from 8 d to 42 d of age. Groups C and D did not receive any additional medication. The results revealed that chicks from group B had lower feed:gain rate (FGR), lower total mortality, higher immunity organ indexes, higher levels of Newcastle disease (ND) antibody and infectious bursal disease (IBD) antibody, higher interleukin-2 and interleukin-6 levels, and greater lymphocyte proliferative responses to concanavalin A (ConA) during the experiment than those from group C. However, no significant difference in the immunity status in the two levels of DBT-treatment was observed. These results indicate that supplementation of 0.5% of DBT can improve both cellular immunity and humoral immunity in immunosuppressed broiler chicks.