| Livestock Research for Rural Development 35 (10) 2023 | LRRD Search | LRRD Misssion | Guide for preparation of papers | LRRD Newsletter | Citation of this paper |
A study of effect of dietary supplementation levels of Ming aralia leaf meal (MLM) was carried out to evaluate growth performance, blood parameters and immune response of local Ri chicken. Two hundred and forty local Ri chickens at 21day of age were arranged in a completely randomized design with four treatments and six replicates. The treatments were (MLM) supplementation levels of 0, 5, 10, and 15g per kg of feed, corresponding to MLM0, MLM5, MLM10 and MLM15 treatments with 10 birds per experimental unit. All birds were reared by the free-range system with a density of 3 m2 of garden/bird up to 70 days of age. The results of the experiment showed that the DWG and BW at 70 days of age were significantly higher (p<0.05) while the FCR and mortality were significantly lower (p<0.05) for the birds supplemented MLM10 than the remains. The results of the analysis of hematological indicators showed that the content of cholesterol, triglyceride, and LDL of the 3 treatmens supplemented with MLM were significantly lower (p<0.05) than that of the control treatment (MLM0). The content of IgG, ND and IB at 70 days of age of the Ri chickens in the MLM10 group were higher than the other treatments, but the difference was only statistically significant (p<0.05) if compared with MLM0 and MLM5. In conclusion was that at level of 10 g Ming aralia leaf meal /kg of feed added gave the higher growth performance, better FCR and resistance, thereby improved the health status of Ri chickens.
Keywords: feed additive, medicinal plants, Polyscias fruticosa
Ming aralia(Polyscias fruticosa) is an evergreen shrub that is native to tropical areas from India to Polynesia, but has been introduced into a large number of tropical and subtropical areas around the world. The Ming aralia is widely cultivated in several countries of Southeast Asia and the tropical islands of the Pacific region. For a long time, Ming aralia has been used as a valuable medicinal plant to make medicine because it contains 8 types of saponins (some similar to the ingredients in Korean ginseng), glucosides, tannins, about 20 kinds of amino acids, alkaloids, vitamins of group B. Because it contains many precious substances, this plant helps to enhance the ability to digest, absorb, and increase the body's resistance (Harms et al 1998; Haniarti et al 2019; Do et al 2021). The cultivation of Ming aralia brings higher economic efficiency compared to other crops, so as more and more farmers increase the area of this crop. Some countries such as China, Vietnam, and Thailand have quite a large area of Ming aralia. This plant does not need much light, so it is very suitable for growing under the canopy of industrial crops such as coffee, rubber, cashew. With the advantage that the country has a large area of industrial crops (about 2 million hectares), the area of Ming aralia in Vietnam has increased rapidly in recent years (Nguyen and Hoang 2019). As of the end of 2022, area of this crop in Vietnam estimated nearly 1,000 hectares, with an annual growth rate of about 20% (Do el al 2017). If intensive farming is applied, the yield of green matter of Ming aralia can reach 5 to 6 tons of leaves/year (Nguyen et al 2019; Le et al 2022). The benefits of using Ming aralia for humans have been proven, but the use of herbal plants in general and Ming aralia in particular for animals is still very limited, so the authors decided to conduct this study.
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| Photo 1. Ming aralia are planted under the canopy of industrial and fruit trees |
The experiment was conducted at the Experimental farm in Tan Khanh village, Phu Binh district, Thai Nguyen province from April to August in 2022. The chemical analysis of feeds was done at the laboratory of the Faculty of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry. The Hematological parameters and Immune competency were analyzed at Thai Nguyen Central Hospital
A total of 240 Ri chickens at 21day of age were used in this study. The study was conducted in a completely randomized design with 4 groups corresponding to 4 diets with different levels of Ming aralia leaf meal supplements. Each group contains of 10 birds, repeated 6 times. Four treatment diets were formulated which were MLM0 = Birds in this treatment received 0g Ming aralia leaf meal per kg feed inclusion in their diet (Control). MLM5 = Birds in this treatment received 5g Ming aralia leaf meal per kg feed inclusion in their diet. MLM10= Birds in this treatment received 10g Ming aralia leaf meal per kg feed inclusion in their diet. MLM15= Birds in this treatment received 15g Ming aralia leaf meal per kg feed inclusion in their diet. All birds were raised in free range system at a density of 3 m2 of garden/bird. VietGap (Vietnamese Good Agricultural Practices)'s biosafety backyard chicken farming technique is applied to raise all birds up to 70 days of age. Initial and final weights of birds were taken at the 21 and 70 days of age. Daily feed intake and weekly weight gain were measured and recorded per group. Data on mortality were recorded as they occurred.
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Table 1. Feed ingredient composition of experimental diets |
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|
Ingredients (%) |
22 - 42 days |
43 - 70 days |
|
Maize |
43 |
45 |
|
Rice bran |
16 |
17 |
|
Tapioca flour |
10 |
10 |
|
Soybean meal |
22 |
20 |
|
Fish meal |
4 |
3 |
|
Salt |
0.25 |
0.25 |
|
Bone meal |
4.0 |
4.0 |
|
Vit-Min Premix * |
0.25 |
0.25 |
|
Lysine |
0.25 |
0.25 |
|
Methionine |
0.25 |
0.25 |
|
Total |
100 |
100 |
|
Calculated |
||
|
Crude protein (%) |
19.05 |
17.38 |
|
Energy (Kcal/kg) |
3,090 |
3,140 |
|
Ca |
0.84 |
0.86 |
|
P |
0.71 |
0.72 |
|
Lysine |
1.18 |
1.16 |
|
Methionine |
0.44 |
0.42 |
|
Vit A:10,000.00 IU; B1: 0.75g; B2: 5g; B12: 0.015g; Biotin: 0.05g; D3: 2,000 IU; Nicotinic acid: 25g; Calcium pantothenate 12.5g; K3-2.5g, Fe-25g; Mn: 64g; Choline chloride 250g; Co: 0.8g; Cu: 8g; Mn: 64g; Zn: 40g; I: 0.8g; Flavomycin: 100g; Spiramycin: 5g; Dl-meth: 50g, Lysine: 120g. |
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At the 70 days of age, blood samples were collected from three birds per treatment from the birds’ wing vein using a 5 mL syringe and placed in sterilized bottles containing ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid anticoagulant for determining the hematological indices. The hematological parameters of packed cell volume (PCV), red blood cell count (RBCC) and total white blood cell count (TWBCC) were determined using Mindray Hematology Analyzer (Mindray BC- 2300, Guangzhou Shihai Medical Equipment Co., Ltd, China). Blood serum was used to determine the concentration of total protein, albumin, globulin, cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL, and HDL. The concentration of those factors was measured using automatic hematology analyzer XN Series XN-1000, Sysmex (Japan).
 |
| Photo 2. Processing of Ming aralia leaf meal |
To evaluate the immunity, three birds per treatment were challenged with sheep red blood cells (SRBC) twice, and blood was sampled at days 42 and 70 for assessment of total antibody, IgG, and IgM production. The samples were centrifuged at 1500 rpm × 10 min and serum was harvested and stored at−20◦C until analysis. Hemagglutination inhibition (HI) assays were used to determine the vaccine titers of Newcastle disease (ND). Serum continues to be separated by centrifugation (3000g ×15 min) and antibody titers against the infectious bursal disease (IBD) and infectious bronchitis (IB) viruses were measured using commercially available ELISA kits.
Data were subjected to subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using IBM SPSS statistics, version 21 (SPSS, 2013) and significantly different means were separated using Duncan’s new multiple range test procedure and accepted at 5% (0.05) probability level.
Result shows that there was no significant (p>0.05) difference among treatments in daily feed intake (DFI) and feed intake (FI), however supplementing the diets with Ming aralia significantly influenced (p<0.05) body weight at 70 days old, daily weight gain (DWG), feed conversion ratio (FCR) and mortality (Table 2.). The body weight at 70 days old increased with the addition of Ming aralia and reached the highest level in the treatment supplemented with 10g/kg of feed.The mortality of Ri chickens has decreased when level of Ming aralia was added to the diet. Similarly, feed conversion ratio decreased from MLM0 to MLM10, but a reliable difference only occurred between MLM10 and MLM15 compared with MLM0 and MLM5. According to Haniarti et al (2019) some medicinal herbal, such as white turmeric (curcumin), red ginger (zingerone), galangal (methyl-cinnamic) and garlic (allicin), can be an alternative antibiotic drug because it can increase the liveability, the digestibility, better intake of nutrients so that resulting the higher chicken body weight gain.The results of this study are also consistent with the publication of Amaefule et al, 2019 (added Korean ginseng) and Mudalal et al, 2021 (added medicinal plants) to the diet of broiler chickens.
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Table 2. Effects of Ming aralia on mortality, performance and FCR of Ri chicken |
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|
Parameters |
MLM (g/kg of feed) |
p |
||||
|
0 |
5 |
10 |
15 |
|||
|
BW at 21 days old (g) |
193.4 ± 0.23 |
192.9 ± 0.67 |
193.2 ± 0.71 |
193.5± 0.58 |
NS |
|
|
BW at 70 days old (g) |
1,203± 0.56a |
1,261 ± 0.34b |
1,344± 0.67c |
1,289 ± 0.78b |
* |
|
|
DFI (g) |
71.9 ± 0.2 |
72.8 ± 0.5 |
70.0 ± 0.6 |
69.5 ± 0.6 |
NS |
|
|
DWG (g) |
20.2 ± 0.10a |
21.4 ± 0.12b |
23.0 ± 0.14c |
21.9 ± 0.11b |
* |
|
|
FI (g) |
3595.2 ± 0.15 |
3642.2 ± 0.22 |
3498.4 ± 0.34 |
3472.7 ± 0.19 |
NS |
|
|
FCR |
3.56 ± 0.11a |
3.41 ± 0.23a |
3.04 ± 0.16b |
3.17 ± 0.31b |
* |
|
|
Mortality (%) |
8.3 ± 0.14a |
5.2 ± 0.16b |
1.9 ± 0.06c |
3.3 ± 0.08d |
* |
|
|
Different letters in the same row showed differences (p<0.05) *: Significant; BW: Body weight, DFI: Daily feed intake, DWG: Daily weight gain, FI: Feed intake, FCR: Feed conversion ratio |
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 |  |
| Figure 1. Effect of MLM supplement levels on DWG | Figure 2. Effect of MLM supplement levels on FCR |
Regarding blood factors, the results at Table 3 showed that the diet supplemented with Ming aralia significantly influenced (p<0.05) on cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL and HDL. The content of cholesterol, triglyceride, and LDL decreased, while the content of HDL increased gradually from MLM5 to MLM15. A decrease in total cholesterol, triglyceride and LDL levels, as well as a significant increase in HDL in the treatments containing Ming aralia compared to the control demonstrates the effectiveness of this plant in modifying blood lipids. The role of medicinal plants in reducing cholesterol and triglycerides (Hosseini etal 2013) is consistent with our results.
For haematological indices (Table 4.) showed the Ming aralia supplement diet have a statistically significant (p<0.05) effected on packed cell volume (PCV), other indices such as hemoglobin (HB), red blood cell counts (RBCC) and total white blood cell counts (TWBCC) although different between treatments compaired control but the difference was not statistically significant (p>0.05). The study of Amaefule et al (2019) supplementing with 2 - 6 g of Korean ginseng per 5 kg of broiler feed also concluded that at 4 and 6 g, there was an effect on the volume of packed cells of experiment bird.
For immune response, the results in Table 5 showed that the diet supplemented with Ming aralia leaf meal have a statistically significant (p<0.05) effected on IgM 42 days, IgG 70 days, ND 70 days and IB 70 days. The concentration of the above 4 indices increased gradually from MLM5 to MLM15. Other indices such as IgM 70 days, IgG 42 days and IBD 70 days although different between treatments compaired to the control, but the difference was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Thereby showing that Ming aralia has increased the resistance and immunity of poultry. The immune response against Newcastle disease virus and IBD for the treatments containing 10 - 15g MLM/kg at 70 days of age increased compared to the control and the other treatments (p<0.05). These results are also similar findings of Vase-Khavari et al (2022) and Amaefule et al (2019) that add medicinal plants to poultry feed reduce feed conversion ratio, increase body weight gain. Some authors such as Hosna Hajati et al (2014), Ivan Egorov and Tatiana Egorova (2021) have demonstrated that the use of medicinal plants can replace antibiotics, thus increasing the body's resistance, increasing the immune response of poultry.
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Table 3. Effects of Ming aralia on blood factors of Ri chicken |
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Parameters |
MLM(g/kg of feed) |
p |
||||
|
0 |
5 |
10 |
15 |
|||
|
Cholesterol (mg/dL) |
183.5 ± 1.1a |
160.9 ± 1.8b |
117.8 ± 2.1c |
137.3± 1.2d |
* |
|
|
Triglyceride (mg/dL) |
110.3 ± 1.6a |
92.9 ± 1.6b |
78.6± 1.7c |
90.7± 1.60b |
* |
|
|
LDL (mg/dL) |
72.6± 0.9a |
56.2 ± 0.8b |
42.7 ± 1.2c |
41.6 ±1.6c |
* |
|
|
HDL (mg/dL) |
25.8 ± 0.8a |
31.0 ± 0.6b |
36.2 ± 0.7c |
41.7 ± 0.5d |
* |
|
|
Total protein (g/dL) |
3.19 ± 0.1 |
3.27 ± 0.0 |
3.29 ± 0.0 |
3.34 ± 0.1 |
NS |
|
|
Albumin(g/dL) |
2.22 ± 0.0a |
2.01 ± 0.1b |
2.18 ± 0.1ab |
2.44 ± 0.1c |
* |
|
|
Globulin(g/dL) |
2.39 ± 0.1a |
1.17 ± 0.0b |
1.14 ± 0.0b |
2.27 ± 0.0a |
* |
|
|
Different letters in the same row showed differences (p<0.05); *: Significant. |
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 |  |
| Figure 3. Effect of MLM on cholesterol content | Figure 4. Effect of MLM on triglyceride content |
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Table 4. Effects of Ming aralia on haematological indices of Ri chicken |
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|
Parameters |
MLM (g/kg of feed) |
p |
||||
|
0 |
5 |
10 |
15 |
|||
|
HB (%) |
8.13 ± 0.45 |
7.69 ± 0.38 |
7.94 ± 0.61 |
8.56 ± 0.55 |
NS |
|
|
PCV (%) |
28.8 ± 0.72a |
22.4 ± 0.75b |
24.2 ± 2.52cb |
24.6 ± 0.40cb |
* |
|
|
RBCC (106/µ) |
3.52 ± 0.38 |
3.41 ± 0.38 |
3.67 ± 0.08 |
3.77 ± 1.07 |
NS |
|
|
TWBCC (106/µ) |
68.8 ± 1.22 |
73.00 ± 8.23 |
64.4 ± 4.15 |
75.2 ± 6.50 |
NS |
|
|
Different letters in the same row showed differences (p<0.05); *: Significant; HB: Haemoglobin; PCV; Packed cell volume; RBCC; Red blood cell counts; TWBCC: Total white blood cell counts |
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Table 5. Effects of Ming aralia on iimmune response of Ri chickens (Log10) |
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|
Immune |
MLM (g/kg of feed) |
p |
||||
|
0 |
5 |
10 |
15 |
|||
|
IgM 42 days |
2.33 ± 0.12a |
3.60 ± 0.20b |
3.62 ± 0.12b |
3.72 ± 0.14b |
* |
|
|
IgM 70 days |
3.88 ± 0.13 |
3.92 ± 0.09 |
4.03 ± 0.21 |
4.10 ± 0.22 |
NS |
|
|
IgG 42 days |
3.23 ± 0.11 |
3.33 ± 0.14 |
3.40 ± 0.20 |
3.62 ± 0.11 |
NS |
|
|
IgG 70 days |
3.88 ± 0.24a |
4.12 ± 0.23a |
4.46 ± 0.19b |
4.30 ± 0.34b |
* |
|
|
ND 70 days |
6.53 ± 0.21a |
6.61 ± 0.25a |
8.02 ± 0.36b |
7.92 ± 0.42b |
* |
|
|
IBD 70 days |
4.32 ± 0.09 |
4.41 ± 0.52 |
4.54 ± 0.24 |
4.23 ± 0.30 |
NS |
|
|
IB 70 days |
2.34 ± 0.12a |
2.92 ± 0.08b |
3.73 ± 0.20c |
3.67 ± 0.24c |
* |
|
|
Different letters in the same row showed differences (p<0.05); *: Significant; IgM: Immunoglobulin M; IgG:Immunoglobulin G; ND: Newcastle disease; IBD: Infectious bursal disease; IB: Infectious bronchitis |
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