Effects Of Artemisia Ordosica Extract On Productive Performance And Immune Function In Broilers

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of different doses of Artemisia ordosica extract on productive performance and immune function in broilers. A total of 160 one-day-old Arbor Acre (AA) broilers were selected and randomly divided into 5 treatments with 4 replications per treatment and 8 broilers per replication after they were fed basal diet two weeks. Broilers in the control treatment were fed basal diet, and those in the other treatments were fed the basal diets supplemented with 250,500,1000,2000 mg/kg Artemisia ordosica extract, respectively. The feeding trial lasted for 28 d, and feed and water were provided ad libitum. The results showed that:1. With the increasing of Artemisia ordosica extract additive, from d 15 to 28, the average daily gain showed a linear (P=0.024) or quadratic (P=0.009) increase; from d 15 to 42, the average daily gain showed a quadratic increase (P=0.019); on d 28, the levels of serum GH (P=0.038) and IGF-â…  (P=0.023) showed quadratic increase.2. With the increasing of Artemisia ordosica extract additive, on d 28, the activities of chymotrypsin (P=0.030) and lipase (P=0.038) of duodenum, and amylase(P=0.040) of ileum showed quadratic increase; on d 42, the activities of trypsin (P=0.053) and lipase (P=0.043) of jejunum, and chymotrypsin(P=0.036) of ileum showed quadratic increase; on d 28, the villus height (VH) of duodenum(P=0.082) and ileum(P=0.035) showed quadratic increase; crypt depth (CD) of duodenum(P=0.051, P=0.001), jejunum(P=0.043, P=0.085) and ileum(P=0.026) showed linear or quadratic decrease; VH/CD of duodenum (P=0.018) showed a quadratic increase; on d 42, duodenum VH showed linear increase (P=0.060) and its VH/CD showed linear (P=0.028) or quadratic (P=0.093) increase; ileum CD showed a quadratic decrease (P=0.016).3. With the increasing of Artemisia ordosica extract additive, the leg muscle percentage showed a significant linear (P=0.005) or quadratic (P=0.022) increase; luminance value of breast muscle showed a trend of quadratic (P=0.091) increase; pH45min showed a trend of quadratic (P=0.076) increase; pH24h showed a significant quadratic (P=0.035) increase; shear force showed a significant quadratic (P=0.001) dose-dependent effect.4. With the increasing of Artemisia ordosica extract additive, the thymus index showed a linear (P=0.066) or quadratic (P=0.004) dose-dependent effect on d 28; the bursa of fabricius index showed a significant quadratic (P=0.040) increase on d 42; on d 28 (P=0.035) or 42(P=0.055), serum IgM showed quadratic increase; on d 42, serum IgG showed a significant quadratic (P=0.013) increase.These results suggested that:(1) Artemisia ordosica extract could promote growth performance of broilers through increasing hormone levels and the activities of digestive enzyme, and improving intestinal morphological structure.(2) Artemisia ordosica extract could increase water-retention rate and tenderness to improve meat quality effectively.(3) Artemisia ordosica extract could adjust immune function to protect broilers.