Vet World Vol.17 June-2024 Article - 17
Research Article
Veterinary World, 17(6): 1318-1327
https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2024.1318-1327
The effects of Artemisia annua nutritional supplementation at varying concentrations on broiler growth, economic yield, and gene expression levels of certain antioxidant, inflammatory, and immune genes
2. Veterinary Economics and Farm Management, Department of Animal Wealth Development, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Benha University, PO 137386, Benha, Egypt.
3. Department of Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt.
4. Department of Food Hygiene and Control, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Benha University, PO 13736, Benha, Egypt.
5. Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt.
6. Veterinary Medicine and Food Security Research Group, Faculty of Health Sciences, Higher Colleges of Technology, Abu Dhabi 17155, United Arab Emirates.
7. Department of Theriogenology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Benha University, PO 13786, Benha, Egypt.
8. Genetics and Genetic Engineering, Department of Animal Wealth Development, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Benha University, PO 137386, Benha, Egypt.
Background and Aim: Artemisia annua (AA), used as a growth promoter in poultry, lowers feed costs and enhances economic efficiency. This study aimed to assess the impact of varying AA concentrations on broiler chicken growth, gene expression, and profitability.
Materials and Methods: Two hundred 1-day-old male Cobb chicks were randomly allocated into four treatment groups, each containing five replicates and 10 birds. The experimental groups consisted of G1 (basal diet), G2 (basal diet with 0.3% AA), G3 (basal diet with 0.6% AA), and G4 (basal diet with 0.9% AA). The birds had continuous access to feed and water throughout the study. The experiment lasted for 42 days. we measured the growth performance (Feed intake, Life weight), carcass traits (weight after slaughter, dressed carcass, heart, gizzard, spleen, giblet and thymus weight), liver and spleen antioxidants (CAT, GSH, SOD), and gene expression of anti-inflammatory and immune- related genes.
Results: The primary findings revealed that the addition of 0.6% AA had a positive impact (p < 0.05) on all investigated variables compared with the control and other groups. Dietary supplementation with 0.6% AA led to increased breast, giblet, skeleton, and total yield, and net return compared with the control group. Supplementation with AA exhibited antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immunological effects through improved levels of antioxidant superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in tissue homogenates of the liver and spleen. It also upregulated the relative messenger RNA levels of anti-inflammatory interleukin (IL)-10, SOD, CAT, and GSH-Px, whereas IL-1β and tumor necrosis factor-alpha were downregulated.
Conclusion: The study found that AA is a promising replacement for antibiotics in poultry farming as a growth promoter for chickens. 0.6% AA in the broiler diet yielded the best results, striking a balance between superior performance and robust economic benefits.
Keywords: Artemisia annua, broiler, carcass traits, economics, immunity, mRNA gene expression.
How to cite this article: Mamdouh M, Shehata SF, El-Keredy A, Awad DA, El-Rayes TK, Elsokary MMM, and Baloza SH (2024) The effects of Artemisia annua nutritional supplementation at varying concentrations on broiler growth, economic yield, and gene expression levels of certain antioxidant, inflammatory, and immune genes, Veterinary World, 17(6): 1318–1327.
Received: 2024-01-21 Accepted: 2024-05-21 Published online: 2024-06-19
Corresponding author: E-mail:
DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2024.1318-1327
Copyright: Mamdouh, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/ publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
