Efficacy of Kalo Jeera seeds (Nigella sativa) and Thankuni (Centella asiatica) supplementation on the growth performance of broiler chicken

INTRODUCTION

Many countries have strict law against using of antibiotics and feed additives as growth promoter in poultry diets due to its residual effect on human body and bacteria develop resistance to those drugs thus producing many new diseases.¹ Researchers are now trying to give emphasis on natural plant extract in exchange of antibiotics for the control of diseases and better performance of growing birds.^2,3 Among various medicinal plants, Nigella sativa (N. sativa) (Family Ranunculaceae) is emerging as a miracle herb. N. sativa is commonly known as black seed. N. sativa is native to Southern Europe, North Africa and Southwest Asia and it is cultivated in many countries in the world like Middle Eastern Mediterranean region, South Europe, India, Pakistan, Syria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia.^4,5 N. sativa has been extensively studied for its biological activities and therapeutic potential and shown to possess wide spectrum of activities viz. as diuretic, antihypertensive, antidiabetic, anticancer and immunomodulatory, analgesic, antimicrobial, anthelmintic, analgesics and anti-inflammatory, spasmolytic, bronchodilator, gastro protective, hepato protective, renal protective and antioxidant properties.⁶ Most of the therapeutic properties of this plant are due to the presence of thymoquinone, thymol and carvacol.^4,7,8 Triterpenoid and saponins, the primary constituents of Centella asiatica are mainly believed to be responsible for wide therapeutic activities. Apart from wound healing, the herb is recommended for the treatment of various skin conditions such as leprosy, lupus, varicose ulcers, eczema, psoriasis, diarrhoea, fever, amenorrhea, diseases of the female genitourinary tract and also for relieving anxiety and improving cognition.^9,10 Bangladesh is a densely populated country where demand of protein of this booming population is a great threat. Each person should take 56 kg of meat and 365 eggs every year. But in Bangladesh, per head intake of meat is only 11.27 kg and 30 eggs per year.¹¹ Broiler production has grown dramatically in the past two decades; for achieving the maximum expression of their genetic potential poultry farmers make use of synthetic growth promoters.¹² Many of these growth promoters are supplemented to broiler diets to gain rapid growth, but their use have shown many disadvantages like high cost, adverse side effect on health of birds and long residual properties and carcinogenic effect in humans.¹³ So, researchers are now concentrating efforts on the use of beneficial herbs and plants, which can be safely used to increase production and also contains pharmacologically-active substances and are known to produce certain chemicals that are naturally toxic to bacteria.¹⁴ In view of these, this work has been undertaken to investigate the growth performance of broilers through supplementation of Thankuni and Kalo Jeera and examine the effect of Thankuni and Kalo Jeera on blood parameters (TEC, ESR and Hb) of broilers.

METHODS

This study was executed at the Department of Pharmacology, Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Mymensingh; during the period from 26^th July, 2014 to 5^th October, 2014. The experimental units were kept on a floor litter system in separate pens each measuring 3 x 4 square feet. A total of 20 day-old Cobb 500 broiler chicks purchased from a local hatchery (Nourish Poultry & Hatchery Ltd.) were randomly divided into 2 groups (A and B) after seven days of acclimation. All the birds were provided same management conditions like floor space, temperature, relative humidity, ventilation and light. Young, fresh & green Thankuni leaves were harvested, washed, chopped and air dried in a well-ventilated room for 10 days. The dried leaves were ground using the Mixture blender to produce Thankuni powder. Kalo Jeera seeds were purchased from local market, BAU, and Mymensingh, washed and dried and crushed in mortar pestle to paste. Treatment group B fed on balanced diet with mixture of Thankuni and Kalo Jeera (1% each in drinking water). All the chicks were closely observed for 35 days. Mean live weight gains of each group were recorded on 1^st, 7^th, 14^th, 21^st, 28^th and 35^th days. Blood samples were collected from wing vein of chicken of both control and treated groups at 35^th day. Total Erythrocyte Count (TEC), hemoglobin concentrations (Hb), Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) was done following the method described by Lamberg and Rothstein.¹¹ After postmortem of birds, liver, spleen, heart, pancreas, and gizzard of 5 birds from each group was collected and then measured by air tight electric balance. The dressing percentage was also evaluated by comparing between live and carcass body weight. During the 35 days of experimental period, growth performance was evaluated and mortality was recorded throughout the study.

RESULTS

Body weight of broilers and FCR

The experiment was conducted according to the completely randomized design and data about per replicate body wt., weekly body wt., weekly feed consumptions and mortality were recorded throughout the experimental period (1-5 weeks of age). The birds were supplied Thankuni and Kalo Jeera by using drinking water in B Group and gained the higher live weight which is shown in Table 1. In control group (Group A) initial average live weight on 1^st day was 42.10 ± 0.56 gm, final live weight 1442 ± 37.35 gm, weight gain 1400 ± 43.79 gm and Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) was 2.28 (Table 2). In Group B initial average live weight on 1^st day was 41.50 ± 0.35 gm, final live weight 1700 ± 58.56 gm, weight gain 1657.50 ± 54.25 gm and FCR 1.88 (Table 2).

% body weight gain = (T-C) X100/C, Where, C means Control & T means Treatment

Dressing percentages, relative giblet weight (heart, gizzard, liver and spleen) and pancreas weight of broilers supplemented with or without Thankuni and Kalo Jeera from 1-5 weeks of age

Dressing percentage is slightly increased in treated groups than in control. Relatively each organ weight had increased in treated ones except gizzard weight which is slightly decreased in Thankuni and Kalo Jeera treated groups than the control (Table 3). Statistical analysis of the data shows non-significant between the dressing percentages of the birds of two groups (Table 3). Statistical analysis of the data did not show any difference between the relative gizzard weights of the birds of two groups (Table 2). Statistical analysis of the data shows 1% level of significance of relative heart, liver, spleen and pancreas weight between the birds of two groups using drinking water with or without supplementation of Thankuni and Kalo Jeera (Table 2).

Economies of production

The average rearing cost of broilers in two groups were Tk. 178.00 and Tk. 188.00 for A and B Groups respectively excluding the cost of labour. Miscellaneous cost summed up Tk. 20 per broiler, which included the estimated cost of electricity, litter and disinfectant. The average live weight/broiler in Groups A and B were 1.442 kg and 1.700 kg respectively. The broilers were sold in live weight basis at the rate of Tk. 130/kg. The net profit/kg live weight in the respective group excluding the cost of labour was found to be Tk. 6.60 and Tk. 19.41 respectively (Table 4).

Effects of Thankuni and Kalo Jeera on hematological parameters of broiler

Observation of hematological parameter (RBC, Hb and ESR) on 35^th day did not show any significant difference (p<0.05) between the control and Thankuni and Kalo Jeera treated groups (Table 5). Total Erythrocyte Count (TEC) in control group was 2.01 ± 0.102 million/µl and 2.11 ± 0.23 million/µl in Group B. ESR was little bit higher in Group B (4.83 ± 0.64 mm in first our) than control bird. Hemoglobin level was 7.10 ± 0.13 gm/dl 7.35 ± 0.13 gm/dl in control and treatment group respectively.

** = Significant at 1% level of probability (0.00-0.01), NS = Not significant (≥ 0.05), Relative weight (g) = Weight of organ/Live body weight of bird x 100, Dressing % = Dress weight of bird/Live weight of bird

DISCUSSION

Addition of herbal growth promoter Thankuni and Kalo Jeera improved the weight gain of the broilers. The values for liver, heart, gizzard and lungs did not differ significantly, this could be linked to the absence of anti-nutritional factors in the diets. The birds had been drunken water supplemented with herbal growth promoters Thankuni and Kalo Jeera utilized their feed more efficiently than those supplied drinking water without addition of the growth promoters.¹⁵ The use of Thankuni and Kalo Jeera with drinking water showed more increase in live weight of the birds as compared to control group in this study.¹⁵ While supplementation of Thankuni and Kalo Jeera did not exhibit any effect on the dressing percentage values of the broilers but use of various levels of herbal growth promoters in the rations exhibited an increase in the profit margin of the broilers as compared to those using ration without the addition of these growth promoters. Supplementation of 1% Thankuni and Kalo Jeera with drinking water was found to be more profitable than without garlic supplementation in broiler rearing.¹⁶ General blood parameters of both treated and control birds were near about equal which indicates that there were no extraordinary side effects of these two extracts on normal physiology. But in case of treated broiler, birds show somewhat improvement of blood parameters which may be responsible for more nutrients transportation.¹⁷

CONCLUSION

This study has revealed that there is a positive relationship between supplementation of Thankuni and Kalo Jeera and on the body weight gain significantly (at 1% level) increases. The hematological parameter TEC, ESR and PCV value of treatment group showed non-significant difference between the treatment and control groups of broilers. No mortality was observed in broiler during experimentation because of antimicrobial, immunostimulatory, anti-stress, fungi static, insecticidal and liver tonic properties and activities of those two herbal medicines. Thereby, these are helpful in treating many serious systemic diseases, as well as localized infections. Now it is the need of the hour to work more extensively on the medicinal plants in the greater interest of mankind to protect human being from irrational use of antibiotics and antimicrobial growth promoters.

Funding: No funding sources

Conflict of interest: None declared

Ethical approval: The study was approved by the institutional animal ethics committee

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