Effects of propolis, royal jelly, honey and bee pollen on growth performance and immune system of Japanese quails

Effect of ethanolic extract of propolis, royal jelly, honey and bee pollen in comparison with virginiamycin (as growth promoter antibiotic) as regards the performance and immune system of Japanese quail were assessed. We used ۲۵۶ mixed-sex quail chicks in a completely randomized design by eight treatments, including control, ethanolic extract of propolis ۱۰۰۰ (PE۱) and ۵۰۰۰ (PE۲) mg kg-۱, pollen powder ۱۰۰۰ (PO۱) and ۵۰۰۰ (PO۲) mg kg-۱, royal jelly ۱۰۰ mg kg-۱ (RJ), honey ۲۲ g L-۱ of drinking water (H) and virginiamycin ۱۵۰ mg kg-۱ (V), and four replicates of eight birds in each replication for ۴۲ days. There was significant differences for weight gain (WG), feed intakes (FI) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) between experimental groups. In addition, WG in V treatment (۱۸.۸۲%), H and PO۲ treatments (۱۶.۸۷%) and RJ treatment (۱۲.۰۰%) were significantly higher than to control group (p < ۰.۰۱). Significantly higher values of FCR were recorded in control group while group PE۲ exhibited a significant decrease for ۱ to ۴۲ day (p < ۰.۰۵). The results of effect of bee products on antibodies titer showed an increase in theNewcastle disease (ND) titer when compared with control and virginiamycin groups (p < ۰.۰۱). There was significant difference in antibody production against avian influenza (AI) and sheep red blood cells (p < ۰.۰۱). Significant differences were observed in heterophils to lymphocytes ratio among PE۱, PE۲, PO۱ and PO۲ with V and control groups (p < ۰.۰۱).

کلیدواژه ها:

Cell mediated immunity ، Feed conversion ، Honey bees products ، Humoral immunity