Comparative immunomodulatory efficacy of rosemary and fenugreek against Escherichia coli infection via suppression of inflammation and oxidative stress in broilers.

Broiler chickens are frequently infected with Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria, which often leads to the emergence of many diseases and high economic losses. Hence, the current study was conducted to assess the relative efficacy of dietary rosemary and fenugreek, under E. coli infection in broilers and their ability to replace antimicrobials without any loss of productivity or negative influence on broiler health, via evaluation of growth performance, biochemical indices, immune response and histo-morphological changes. Eighty Cobb broilers were allotted to four equal groups (n = 20 chicks/group): control non-infected (CN), control infected (CI), rosemary infected (RI) and fenugreek infected (FI) groups. The RI and FI groups revealed a significant elevation in their body weight and body weight gain compared with the CI group. However, both groups showed a significant decline in serum aspartate and alanine aminotransferase activities, as well as uric acid and creatinine levels. A significant decrease in total antioxidant capacity, catalase and superoxide dismutase activities was noted among CI chicks. Moreover, distinctly higher activities were evident in both RI and FI groups. Assessment of immunomodulatory markers showed a significant increase in immunoglobulin G along with a significant decline in interleukin-6 level in both RI and FI groups, with the lowest IL-6 value within FI group. Histopathological evaluations focused on the deleterious effect associated with E. coli infection of broilers' liver, kidney, intestine, spleen, bursa of Fabricius and thymus. Partial histological improvement was noticed among RI group, and nearly normal tissues were recorded in FI group. Overall, the obtained findings suggest the ability of fenugreek to mitigate the adverse effects of E. coli infection on broiler performance and tissue profiles, by improving the general health status of the broiler chickens.

Does in Ovo Injection of Two Chicken Strains with Royal Jelly Impact Hatchability, Post-Hatch Growth Performance and Haematological and Immunological Parameters in Hatched Chicks?

The hypothesis of the present work was that the effects of in ovo injection may differ in different chicken strains. The influence of in ovo royal jelly (RJ) injection on hatching, growth and blood parameters in two chicken strains (Dokki-4 and El-Salam as example for different strains) was evaluated. A total of 1080 eggs were used. On the seventh day of incubation, the eggs were randomly allocated into six experimental groups in a 2 × 3 arrangement that included the two chicken strains and three concentrations of RJ (0, 0.25 and 0.5 mL RJ/egg). Injection with 0.5 mL RJ/egg improved hatchability compared to the other treatments. The El-Salam strain exhibited significantly higher body weight and body weight gain than the Dokki-4 strain. Injection with 0.5 mL RJ/egg significantly (p < 0.05) improved chicken body weight and daily weight gain compared to the control treatment. RJ injection decreased blood lipid profile parameters and the numbers of monocytes and eosinophils and increased total protein, globulin, haemoglobin (Hb) and lymphocyte levels compared to the control treatment. The Dokki-4 strain showed significantly higher antibody titres against avian influenza virus (AIV) (p < 0.05) and sheep red blood cells (SRBCs) (p < 0.0001) than the El-Salam strain and RJ injection enhanced antibody titres against AIV, Newcastle disease virus (NDV) and SRBCs. Therefore, the Dokki-4 strain was superior to the El-Salam strain for the tested parameters and injection with 0.5 mL RJ/egg produced the best hatching parameters, growth performance and health-related traits. RJ in ovo injection was much more effective in the Dokki-4 strain than in the El-Salam strain, which supported the hypothesis of the study that varying the chicken strain could alter the response to the in ovo injection with RJ.