Effects of Designed Herbal Formula on Growth Performance, Blood Indices, Organ Traits, and Cecum Microbiology in Broilers
The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of the designed herbal formula (DHF) on growth performance, blood indices, organ traits, and cecum microbiology in broilers. A total of 96 male broilers of 1 d were selected and randomly assigned to two groups with six replicates of eight bro...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2024-02-01
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| Series: | Veterinary Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2306-7381/11/3/107 |
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| author | Yuelong Sun Mengjie Zhang Dongdong Shi Xiaofeng Dai Xiumei Li |
| author_facet | Yuelong Sun Mengjie Zhang Dongdong Shi Xiaofeng Dai Xiumei Li |
| author_sort | Yuelong Sun |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of the designed herbal formula (DHF) on growth performance, blood indices, organ traits, and cecum microbiology in broilers. A total of 96 male broilers of 1 d were selected and randomly assigned to two groups with six replicates of eight broilers each. The control (CON) and the basal diet containing 1.0% DHF (<i>Astragali radix</i>, <i>Atractylodes macrocephala</i> Koidz., <i>Isatis tinctoria</i> Linnaeus, and <i>Citri reticulatae pericarpium</i>, 2:1:1:2) were fed separately. The experiment was conducted for 35 days. The results showed that the DHF diet increased body weight and decreased the feed conversion ratio (FCR) (<i>p</i> < 0.05). At 21 days, the spleen, thymus, lymphocytes, and thrombocytes were increased (<i>p</i> < 0.05), and pancreas, duodenum, heterophils, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) were decreased (<i>p</i> < 0.05). At 35 days, the heart, pancreas, white blood cell, heterophils, hemoglobin, MCH and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) were decreased, while lymphocytes and middle cells were increased (<i>p</i> < 0.05). The results of microbial diversity analysis showed that the DHF diet decreased the microbial diversity of the cecum. Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were the dominant phyla, where the DHF diet increased the relative abundances of <i>Bacteroides uniformis</i>, <i>Bacteroides vulgatus</i>, and <i>Faecalibacterium prausnitzii</i>, and then decreased the relative abundance of <i>Shigella sonnei</i>. In conclusion, DHF played a positive role in improving the growth performance, immune performance, and relative abundance of <i>Bacteroides uniformis</i>, <i>Bacteroides vulgatus</i>, and <i>Faecalibacterium prausnitzii</i> in cecum microbiology in broilers, and has the potential to be used as a novel feed additive. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T17:46:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-696e368b511943d1a536745ecd92a38d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2306-7381 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T17:46:06Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
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| spelling | doaj.art-696e368b511943d1a536745ecd92a38d2024-03-27T14:07:21ZengMDPI AGVeterinary Sciences2306-73812024-02-0111310710.3390/vetsci11030107Effects of Designed Herbal Formula on Growth Performance, Blood Indices, Organ Traits, and Cecum Microbiology in BroilersYuelong Sun0Mengjie Zhang1Dongdong Shi2Xiaofeng Dai3Xiumei Li4Key Laboratory of Feed Biotechnology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Feed Research of CAAS, Beijing 100081, ChinaKey Laboratory of Feed Biotechnology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Feed Research of CAAS, Beijing 100081, ChinaKey Laboratory of Feed Biotechnology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Feed Research of CAAS, Beijing 100081, ChinaKey Laboratory of Feed Biotechnology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Feed Research of CAAS, Beijing 100081, ChinaKey Laboratory of Feed Biotechnology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Feed Research of CAAS, Beijing 100081, ChinaThe objective of this study was to investigate the effect of the designed herbal formula (DHF) on growth performance, blood indices, organ traits, and cecum microbiology in broilers. A total of 96 male broilers of 1 d were selected and randomly assigned to two groups with six replicates of eight broilers each. The control (CON) and the basal diet containing 1.0% DHF (<i>Astragali radix</i>, <i>Atractylodes macrocephala</i> Koidz., <i>Isatis tinctoria</i> Linnaeus, and <i>Citri reticulatae pericarpium</i>, 2:1:1:2) were fed separately. The experiment was conducted for 35 days. The results showed that the DHF diet increased body weight and decreased the feed conversion ratio (FCR) (<i>p</i> < 0.05). At 21 days, the spleen, thymus, lymphocytes, and thrombocytes were increased (<i>p</i> < 0.05), and pancreas, duodenum, heterophils, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) were decreased (<i>p</i> < 0.05). At 35 days, the heart, pancreas, white blood cell, heterophils, hemoglobin, MCH and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) were decreased, while lymphocytes and middle cells were increased (<i>p</i> < 0.05). The results of microbial diversity analysis showed that the DHF diet decreased the microbial diversity of the cecum. Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were the dominant phyla, where the DHF diet increased the relative abundances of <i>Bacteroides uniformis</i>, <i>Bacteroides vulgatus</i>, and <i>Faecalibacterium prausnitzii</i>, and then decreased the relative abundance of <i>Shigella sonnei</i>. In conclusion, DHF played a positive role in improving the growth performance, immune performance, and relative abundance of <i>Bacteroides uniformis</i>, <i>Bacteroides vulgatus</i>, and <i>Faecalibacterium prausnitzii</i> in cecum microbiology in broilers, and has the potential to be used as a novel feed additive.https://www.mdpi.com/2306-7381/11/3/107designed herbal formulagrowth performanceblood indicesorgan traitscecum microbiologybroilers |
| spellingShingle | Yuelong Sun Mengjie Zhang Dongdong Shi Xiaofeng Dai Xiumei Li Effects of Designed Herbal Formula on Growth Performance, Blood Indices, Organ Traits, and Cecum Microbiology in Broilers Veterinary Sciences designed herbal formula growth performance blood indices organ traits cecum microbiology broilers |
| title | Effects of Designed Herbal Formula on Growth Performance, Blood Indices, Organ Traits, and Cecum Microbiology in Broilers |
| title_full | Effects of Designed Herbal Formula on Growth Performance, Blood Indices, Organ Traits, and Cecum Microbiology in Broilers |
| title_fullStr | Effects of Designed Herbal Formula on Growth Performance, Blood Indices, Organ Traits, and Cecum Microbiology in Broilers |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effects of Designed Herbal Formula on Growth Performance, Blood Indices, Organ Traits, and Cecum Microbiology in Broilers |
| title_short | Effects of Designed Herbal Formula on Growth Performance, Blood Indices, Organ Traits, and Cecum Microbiology in Broilers |
| title_sort | effects of designed herbal formula on growth performance blood indices organ traits and cecum microbiology in broilers |
| topic | designed herbal formula growth performance blood indices organ traits cecum microbiology broilers |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2306-7381/11/3/107 |
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