Performance-Influencing Action And Mechanism Of A New Chinese Herbal Medicinal Additive In Aged Laying Hens

With the development of the practice, traditional Chinese herbal medicinal additive had been paid more and more attention. To find a new, good effect Chinese herbal medicinnal additive to control the quality easily, 4 prescriptions formed by Chinese herbal medicine with different principle were added respectively into the diets given to the uniparous laying hens and aged hens, subsequently, the performance-influencing action and mechanism of the prescriptions on the performance of the hens were also observed.Test 1 Effect of Several Prescriptions Formulated by Chinese Materia Medica with different principle on Performance in Aged Laying Hens105 390-day-old aged laying hens were randomized into 5 groups. 4 prescriptions formulated by Chinese material medica (CMM) were added respectively into the diet given to the hens in groupl-group4. The hens of group 5, as the control were fed with the diet without CMM. The performance indexes, namely the laying rate, day-egg weight- per hen, feed/egg ratio and mean weight of per egg for a period of 84 days were studied. Results indicated that in group 5 the laying rate at the end of the test sharply decreased by 13.72%, similarly the day-egg weight-per-hen was 4.82g less than that of the beginning. However, the laying rate in group 1 and group 2 dropped only 4.76% and 0.21% respectively. Moreover, the day-egg weight-per-hen in group 1 and group 2 increased respectively 0.28 g and 3.41 g. Those of the other two groups also approached that of group 5. The feed conversion rate of prescription 1 and 2 was 2.25 and 2.2 respectively, sharply less than that of group 5. The ratio of broken eggs in group 1 and group 2 was 4～5 times lower than that of the group 5. In conclusion, prescription 1 alid 2 formulated by CMM can obviously improve the performance of aged laying hens.Test 2 Study on the dosage of Chinese herbal medicine supplemented into the diets of laying hens 225 372-day-old aged laying hens were randomized into 4 groups. Hens in group 1～3 were fed with the Chinese herbal medicine supplemented diet at the dosage of 0.5%, 1% and 1.5% respectively. The hens of group 4, as the control were fed with the diet without Chinese herbal medicine. The performance indexes, namely the laying rate, egg weight per hen in one day, feed conversion rate and mean weight per egg during the experiment were studied. Results indicated that in group 4 the laying rate and the day-egg-weight at the end of the test were 85.68% and 55.03g/day-feather, sharply decreased by 5.75% and 2.5g respectively. However, the laying rate in group 2 and group 3 were higher respectively 6.53% and 4.03% than that of the control group. Moreover, the day-egg weight-per-hen in group 2 and group 3 increased respectively 163 g and 0.13 g. The feed conversion rate of group 2 and group 3 was 2.14 and 2.17 respectively, sharply less than that of group 4. In conclusion, the prescription formed with the principle of readjusting vital energy and blood at the dosage of 1% and 1.5% can obviously improve the performance of aged laying hens. The recommended dosage of the prescription supplemented into the diet is 1%. Test 3 Effect and mechanism studies on performance-influencing action of prescription formulated by Chinese materia medica with different principle in Aged laying hensTo study the effect and mechanism of 2 prescriptions formulated by Chinese material medica (CMM) with different principle on performance in aged laying hens, the hormone values of estradiol (E₂), glucagons (Glu), thyroxine (T₄), 3, 3'5-Triiodothyronine (T₃) in the serum, the the antioxidative function including glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) content in the whole blood, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malonadehyde (MDA) contents in blood plasma, the blood parameters, namely the blood glucose concentration, quantity of red blood cell (RBC) and packed cell volume (PCV), and the serum titre of NDV-HI and IBDV antibody were measured respectively. Results indicated that although non-significant differences were showed for the examinations, namely Glu, T₃, PCV and plasma glucose values in all the aged laying hens, all these indexes, including the value of E₂ and T₄, the quantity of RBC, the contents of GSH-Px and SOD, the immunocompetence were remarkably promoted by one of the prescriptions formed with the principle of readjusting vital energy and blood with a sharply dropping of MDA. The performance of aged laying hens was promoted by this prescription. Consequently, this prescription could be used in production. In conclusion, the performance of aged laying hens can be enhanced by the prescription formulated with the principle of readjusting vital energy and blood by stimulating the function of endocrine-immunity network and oxidative resistance, and improving the oxygenic-transport ability of RBC.