Effect of Chinese herbal medicine on growth performance,immune function and gut bacterial community of broilers

LIU Meng-yang; YANG Kan-kan; SUN Wen-jie; ZHU Qi; WANG Xin; WANG Xin-yuan; LI Jing-shuang; YU Yang

doi:10.13557/j.cnki.issn1002-2813.2023.16.008

Abstract：The experiment was to investigate the effect of Chinese herbal medicine on growth performance,immune function and gut microbiota of broilers.A total of 300 one-day-old broilers were selected and divided into five groups,with three replicates in each group and 20 broilers in each replicate.The blank control group did not add medicine in drinking water,the positive control group added 0.05 g/L levamisole hydrochloride in drinking water,and experimental groups were supplemented with 0.5,1.0 and 2.0 g/L Chinese herbal medicine in drinking water,respectively.The experiment lasted for 42 d.The results showed that compared with blank control group,the final weight and average daily weight gain of broilers in different growth stage in 0.5 g/L group and 1.0 g/L group of Chinese herbal medicine were extremely improved(P＜0.01),and the feed to gain ratio of 1.0 g/L group of Chinese herbal medicine was extremely reduced(P＜0.01).Compared with blank control group,the thymus,indices bursa indices and spleen indices of broilers in different group of Chinese herbal medicine were extremely increased(P＜0.01).The volume of lymphocytes in white and red pulp of spleen tissue structure increased,and the number of cells increased.Compared with blank control group,serum IL-2,IL-4,IFN-γ and IL-10 content in Chinese herbal medicine groups significantly or extremely increased(P＜0.05 or P＜0.01),the number of Escherichia coli in jejunum and cecum decreased significantly or extremely(P＜0.05 or P＜0.01),while the number of lactic acid bacteria was significantly or extremely increased(P＜0.05 or P＜0.01).The study indicates that Chinese herbal medicine can improve the growth performance and immune function of broilers,increase the number of beneficial bacteria in intestine,and reduce the number of harmful bacteria.The 1.0 g/L group of Chinese herbal medicine has better effect.