Authors : Ali Reza Foroughi, Hosin Mousavinejad Torghabeh and Hassan Saleh
Abstract: A trial was conducted to investigate the effects of adding different levels essential oils of thyme on growth performance and humoral immune response of chicken broilers. A 350 days old broiler chicks from a commercial hybrid (ROSS 308) were divided into 35 groups of 10 birds each. Seven diets were provided with T1 (without supplemented), T2 (45 mg), T3 (90 mg), T4 (135 mg), T5 (180 mg), T6 (225 mg) and T7 (270 mg) essential oils of thyme per kilogram. Each diet was randomly assigned to 5 replicates of birds for 48 days. Birds were fed the experimental diet as ad libitum throughout the experiment. The experiment lasted 48 days. At 8 and 18 days of age, all 350 chicks were vaccinated against NDV and at 10th day of age for vaccinated against Avian Influenza (AI). The sera were applied to Haemagglutination Inhibition (HI) test to determine Antibody (Ab) to NDV and AI expressed as reciprocal log 2 values for the highest dilution that displayed HI. Feed Intake (FI) and Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) were calculated in each pen on weekly bases. Body weight, FCR and feed intake was recorded for the corresponding periods. Results showed Body Weight Gain (BWG) was not affected by dietary treatments. The differences among the groups were statistically significant for FI, FCR and final weight (p<0.05). Evaluation Antibody (Ab) for NDV showed among experimental diets was different significantly (p<0.05) but for AI not affected by dietary treatments. The best level of essential oil of thyme was 180 mg kg-1 and addition of >180 mg kg-1 to diet decreased performance.
Ali Reza Foroughi, Hosin Mousavinejad Torghabeh and Hassan Saleh, 2011. The Effect of Essential Oil of Thyme (Thimus vulgaris) on to Performance and Humoral Immune Response Broilers Chicken. Agricultural Journal, 6: 299-302.