title: Histomorphological studies of broiler chicken fed diets supplemented with either raw or enzyme treated dandelion leaves and fenugreek seeds.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Herbal plants and their derived products are extensively used particularly in many Asian, African, and other countries of the world as they are considered as ideal feed additives because of their non-residual effect and ability to influence the ecosystem of gastrointestinal microbiota in a positive way. Further, the enzymatic treatment of these herbs helps in their efficient utilization by the host. Dandelion leaves and fenugreek seeds have been reported to have positive effect in terms of improving the performance of broiler chicken, but not much literature is available regarding their effect on gut histomorphology; therefore, the present study was conducted to explore the effect of these herbs either alone or in combination with or without enzyme treatment on histomorphology of liver and small intestine of broiler chicken.
  
  
  METHODS
  To achieve the envisaged objective, 273-day-old commercial broiler chicks were procured from a reputed source and reared together until 7 days of age. On the 7(th) day, the chicks were individually weighed, distributed randomly into 7 groups of 3 replicates with 13 chicks each. Birds in the control group were fed diets without additives (T1). The other six treatment groups were fed the basal diet supplemented with 0.5% dandelion leaves (T2), 1% fenugreek seeds (T3), combination of 0.5% dandelion leaves and 1% fenugreek seeds (T4), enzyme treated dandelion leaves 0.5% (T5), enzyme treated fenugreek seeds 1% (T6), and combination of enzyme treated dandelion leaves (0.5%) and (1%) fenugreek seeds (T7). The histomorphological study of liver and small intestines was conducted among different treatment groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results revealed the hepato-protective nature of both dandelion leaves and fenugreek seeds either alone or in combination with or without enzyme treatment when compared with the control group. Moreover, the histomorphological findings of jejunum revealed the beneficial effect of dandelion leaves, fenugreek seeds and enzymes on the intestinal mucosa in terms of cellular infiltration, architecture of villi, villus height/crypt depth ratio, thereby improving the intestinal health.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The dandelion leaves and fenugreek seeds have hepato-protective nature and beneficial effect on the intestinal morphology particularly when included along with enzymes in the diet of broiler chicken.
authors.affiliation: Division of Livestock Production and Management, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology of Kashmir, Shuhama - 190 006, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India.
authors.forename: Saim
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Qureshi
authors.affiliation: Division of Livestock Production and Management, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology of Kashmir, Shuhama - 190 006, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India.
authors.forename: Mohammed Tufail
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Banday
authors.affiliation: Division of Livestock Production and Management, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology of Kashmir, Shuhama - 190 006, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India.
authors.forename: Irfan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Shakeel
authors.affiliation: Division of Livestock Production and Management, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology of Kashmir, Shuhama - 190 006, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India.
authors.forename: Sheikh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Adil
authors.affiliation: Division of Veterinary Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology of Kashmir, Shuhama - 190 006, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India.
authors.forename: Masood Saleem
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Mir
authors.affiliation: Division of Animal Nutrition, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology of Kashmir, Shuhama -190 006, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India.
authors.forename: Yasir Afzal
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Beigh
authors.affiliation: Division of Veterinary Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology of Kashmir, Shuhama - 190 006, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India.
authors.forename: Umar
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Amin
keywords: broiler chicken; dandelion; fenugreek; histomorphology