title: Effect of lemon verbena powder and vitamin C on performance and immunity of heat-stressed broilers.
abstract: An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of lemon verbena powder and vitamin C on performance and immunity of broilers under heat stress. The experiment was carried out with a total of 160-day-old male Ross 308 broiler chickens in a completely randomized design. From 25 days of age, the birds were assigned to four diets including control diet and treatment diets which were supplemented with 2 levels of lemon verbena (0.5% and 1.0%) and one level of vitamin C (250 mg/kg) in 16-floor pens with 10 chickens each and reared to 42 days of age. To induce chronic heat stress, birds were exposed to an ambient temperature of 35 ± 2 °C for 8 h daily (from 09:00 AM until 17:00 PM) between 25 and 42 days of age. At the end of experiment, one chick/pen was randomly selected, and the performance and blood parameters were evaluated. Dietary supplementation of 1.0% lemon verbena increased (p < 0.05) average weight gain and feed intake by 5.81% and 3.29%, and reduced feed conversion ratio by 2.59% respectively compared to control group. Birds fed diets containing 1.0% lemon verbena had significantly higher relative weight of bursa of fabricius and breast (p < 0.05). LDL decreased by 15.85% and 17.57%, for birds fed 0.5% and 1.0% lemon verbena respectively. The ratio of heterophyl to lymphocyte was reduced (p < 0.05) by 20.68% via significant decrease in heterophyl by 15.55% and significant increase in lymphocyte by 4.51% in birds fed lemon verbena at the rate of 1.0% compared to those fed the control diet. 1.0% lemon verbena and vitamin C elevated (p = 0.0005) the level of glutathione peroxidase by 51.81% and 27.90%, respectively. In conclusion, lemon verbena and vitamin C improved some performance data and blood metabolites which somehow suppressed the negative effects of heat stress.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Jiroft, Kerman, Iran.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rafiee
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Jiroft, Kerman, Iran. mozhgan.mazhari@gmail.com.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mazhari
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Jiroft, Kerman, Iran.|Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Fars, Iran.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghoreishi
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Jiroft, Kerman, Iran.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Esmaeilipour
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed / Q000032:analysis; D000818:Animals; D001205:Ascorbic Acid / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001823:Body Composition; D001835:Body Weight; D002645:Chickens; D004032:Diet / Q000662:veterinary; D018882:Heat Stress Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000662:veterinary*; D006358:Hot Temperature / Q000009:adverse effects; D011201:Poultry Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011208:Powders / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013997:Time Factors; D029648:Verbenaceae / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D011208:Powders; D001205:Ascorbic Acid
keywords: blood components; broilers; glutathione peroxidase; lemon verbena; vitamin C