Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of adding extracts from Folium Isatidis to the diet on growth performance, antioxidation function and immune function of chicks. A total of 240 1-day-old healthy chicks were randomly divided into 4 groups: blank control group, low dose group, medium dose group and high dose group. There were 4 replicates in each group and 15 chicks in each replicate. The chicks in the blank control group was fed a basic diet, and the chicks in the low-dose group, middle-dose group and high-dose group were fed the experimental diet supplemented with 30 mg/kg, 40 mg/kg and 50 mg/kg of the extract from Folium Isatidis. The pre-trial period lasted for 7 days, and the trial period lasted for 21 days. The growth performance(average body weight, average daily gain, average daily feed intake and feed gain ratio), antioxidant function(serum T-AOC, T-SOD and GSH-Px activities and MDA content) and immune function(immune organ index and serum IgA, IgG, complement 3 C3, complement 4 C4) were measured. The results showed that there was no significant difference in average body weight and average daily gain at different time points(periods)among the three groups(P>0.05), but the average daily feed intake in the low, middle and high dose groups was significantly lower than that in the control group on the 1 st to 7 th day and lst to 21 st day(P<0.05). The feed gain ratio in the low, middle and high-dose groups was significantly lower than that in the control group on the 1 st to 7 th day(P<0.05), and the feed gain ratio in the low, middle and high dose-groups was slightly lower than that in the control group on the 1 st to 21 st day(P>0.05).The serum T-AOC in the low-dose group and high-dose group was significantly higher than that in the control group and middle-dose group(P>0.05). The activity of serum T-SOD in the high-dose group was significantly higher than that in the control group(P<0.05), but there was no significant difference between high-dose group and low and middle-dose groups(P>0.05). Serum GSH-Px activity in the high-dose group was significantly higher than that in other three groups(P<0.05). There was no significant difference in MDA content among the three groups(P>0.05). There was no significant difference in spleen index and bursa index among the three groups(P>0.05). However, the spleen index and bursa index increased with the increase of Folium Isatidis extract amount.The thymus index in the low, middle and high dose groups was significantly higher than that in the control group(P<0.05), and the thymus index in the high dose group was the highest. The content of serum IgA in the high dose group was slightly higher than that in the middle dose group(P>0.05), but significantly higher than that in the low dose group and the control group(P<0.05). The content of serum IgG in the high dose group was significantly higher than that in the other three groups(P<0.05). The content of serum C3 in the high dose group was slightly higher than that in the middle dose group(P>0.05) and significantly higher than that in low-dose group and the control group(P<0.05). There was no significant difference in serum C4 among the three groups(P>0.05).The results indicated that the extracts from Folium Isatidis added to the diet of chicks could reduce the feed-to-weight ratio of chicks and improve the antioxidant function and immune function of chicks to some extent. Under the conditions of this experiment, the effect of 50 mg/kg extract was the best.