| The present study were conducted to investigate the effects of different levels of Artemisia argyi aqueous extract(AAE)in diets on immune and anti-oxidation function in broilers.A total of 192 Arbor Acre broiler chickens(one-day-old)were randomly divided into four treatments with six replicates of 8 chickens(4 females and 4 males).These four diets were formulated by adding O,500,1,000 and 2,000 mg/kg AAE to the basal diet.The feeding trial lasted 42 d divided into two stages of d 1-21 and 22-42.The trial consists of three parts:Experiment 1 was conducted to determine antibody titer of Newcastle disease and cytokines,in order to study the effects of dietary supplementation of AAE on immune function in broilers.The results showed as follows:The addition of 1000 mg/kg AAE to diet improved the New castle disease antibody titer at 42 days of age(P<0.05),the serum concentrations of interleukin-1(IL-1),interleukin-2(IL-2)and intererkin-4(IL-4)of 3 AAE supplementation groups were higher than those of the control group at 21 and 42 days of age in 500,1000 and 2000 mg/kg AAE treatments(P<0.05).Experiment 2 was conducted to investigate the effects of AAE on broiler’s immune function by studying the effects of different levels of AAE in diets on NO content,iNOS activity and its gene expression.The results showed as follows:At 21 days of age,supplementation of 1000 mg/kg AAE improved NO content;supplementation of 1000 and 2000 mg/kg AAE improved the gene expressions of iNOS in duodenum and ieum(P<0.05).At 42 days of age,the NO content and iNOS activity of 3 AAE supplementation groups were higher than those of the control group in 500.1000 and 2000 mg/kg AAE treatments(P<0.05),and the gene expressions of iNOS in jejunum was improved(P<0.05).Experiment 3 was conducted to study the effects of different levels of AAE in diets on anti-oxidation function and relative gene expression in broilers.The results showed as follows:1)The T-SOD activity in serum for the 1000 mg/kg treatment group was higher than those of the control group at 21 days of age(P<0.05).2)At 21 days of age,the T-AOC level of ileum was improved in 2000 mg/kg treatment group(P<0.05);At 42 days of age,supplementation of 500 and 1000 mg/kg AAE improved the T-AOC level in jejunum and ileum;the T-AOC level of liver in 2000 mg/kg AAE treatments was significantly increased(P<0.05).3)At 21 days of age,supplementation of 500 mg/kg AAE increased CAT activity and its gene expression in small intestine(P<0.05),meanwhile,the gene expressions of CAT in liver,duodenum and ileum were improved in 1000 and 2000 mg/kg AAE treatments(P<0.05).At 42 days of age,supplementation of 1000 mg/kg AAE improved the CAT activity in jejunum,but the CAT activity of liver and ileum in 2000 mg/kg AAE treatments was significantly decreased(P<0.05).4)At 21 days of age,the addition of 500 mg/kg AAE to diet improved GSH-Px activity in duodenum and jejunum,and up-regulated gene expressions of GSH-Px in liver(P<0.05);supplementation of 1000 mg/kg AAE improved GSH-Px activity in small intestine(P<0.05);the GSH-Px activity in liver was enhanced in broilers supplemented with 2000 mg/kg AAE(P<0.05).At 42 days of age,supplementation of 500 mg/kg AAE increased GSH-Px activity and its gene expression in liver(P<0.05),and the GSH-Px activity of ileum was improved(P<0.05),meanwhile,the gene expressions of GSH-Px in duodenum and jejunum were improved(P<0.05);supplementation of 1000 mg/kg AAE improved the GSH-Px activity in jejunum,and the gene expressions of GSH-Px in duodenum was higher than those of the control group(P<0.05);However,the GSH-Px activity of jejunum in 2000 mg/kg AAE treatments was significantly decreased(P<0.05).5)At 21 days of age,supplementation of 500 mg/kg AAE increased T-SOD activity and its gene expression in duodenum(P<0.05),and the T-SOD activity of jejunum was significantly improved(P<0.05),and the gene expressions of SOD in ileum was higher than those of the control group(P<0.05);supplementation of 1000 and 2000 mg/kg AAE improved the gene expressions of SOD in ileum.At 42 days of age,supplementation of 500 mg/kg AAE improved the T-SOD activity in liver and jejunum(P<0.05),and the SOD activity and its mRNA expression in duodenum were improved(P<0.05);the addition of 1000 mg/kg AAE to diet improved SOD activity and its mRNA expression in ileum(P<0.05),and the gene expression of SOD in duodenum was significantly improved(P<0.05);supplementation of 2000 mg/kg AAE was significantly improved the T-SOD activity in ileum,but significantly decreased the T-SOD activity of liver(P<0.05).6)At 42 days of age,supplementation of 500 mg/kg AAE improved the T-AOC level and the T-SOD activity(P<0.05);the addition of 1000 and 2000 mg/kg AAE to diet improved T-SOD activity(P<0.05),but the T-AOC level of liver significantly decreased in 2000 mg/kg treatment group.7)At 21 days of age,the gene expression of SOD was decreased in 2000 mg/kg treatment group(P<0.05).At 42 days of age,supplementation of 500 mg/kg AAE improved the gene expression of SOD and GSH-Px(P<0.05);the addition of 1000 mg/kg AAE to diet improved the gene expression of CAT(P<0.05).8)At 21 and 42 days of age,the MDA content of 3 AAE supplementation group were significantly decreased(P<0.05).The results suggest that:(1)Dietary AAE could stimulate immune function by improving antibody titer of Newcastle disease,cytokine concentrations,NO concentrations,iNOS activity in serum,and iNOS mRNA expression in the small intestine.(2)Dietary AAE could improve antioxidant function of broilers by enhancing T-AOC level,the activity of antioxidant enzymes and its relative gene expressions and decreasing MDA content in serum and different tissues. |
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