EFFECT OF BLACK SEED (NIGELLA SATIVA) AND GARLIC (ALLIUM SATIVUM) FEED SUPPLEMENTS ON PRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE AND SOME PHYSIOLOGICAL AND IMMUNOLOGICAL RESPONSES OF JAPANESE QUAIL

Abdou, A.; Rashed, Ghada G.

doi:10.21608/ejnf.2015.104793

EFFECT OF BLACK SEED (NIGELLA SATIVA) AND GARLIC (ALLIUM SATIVUM) FEED SUPPLEMENTS ON PRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE AND SOME PHYSIOLOGICAL AND IMMUNOLOGICAL RESPONSES OF JAPANESE QUAIL

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

A. Abdou ¹
Ghada G. Rashed ²

¹ Animal Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.

² Poultry Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.

10.21608/ejnf.2015.104793

Abstract

A total number of 160 one day-old Japanese quails were used to evaluate some herbal feed additives (black seed and garlic) as growth promoters for quails, Birds were divided into four equal groups. The treatments were control (0% additives), 3% black seed, 3% garlic and 3% black seed + 3% garlic. Birds were exposed to16 hours light daily; feed and water were given ad-libitum. The experiment lasted for 10 weeks, during which some productive, physiological and immunological parameters were taken. Results indicated that using black seed and garlic improved body weight during 0-6 weeks of age. Black seed and garlic alone or in combination significantly decreased the feed intake at 4, 5, 6 weeks of age and increased feed conversion. Using black seed and garlic increased egg number, egg weight and egg mass. Adding black seed and garlic decreased serum cholesterol, LDL, HDL and total lipids in the treatments compared with control group. All treatments increased serum total protein, albumin and globulin. However, yolk cholesterol, LDL, HDL and total lipids were decreased by using all treatments compared to control group. Primary and secondary responses to Newcastle disease virus were higher in garlic group than black seed and control groups. Also using black seed and garlic have increased relative weights of spleen, bursa and thymus. It can be concluded that using black seed and garlic in quail diets improve the productive performance and some physiological and immunological parameters for Japanese quail and produce more healthy food for human consumption.

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