1Department of Animal Nutrition, College of Veterinary Science, AAU, Khanapara, Assam, India
2Department of Animal Nutrition, ICAR-NDRI, Karnal, Haryana, India
3Department of Clinical Medicine, College of Veterinary Science, AAU, Khanapara, Assam, India
4Department of Animal Nutrition, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, GBPUAT, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India
*Corresponding author: T Ghosh; E-mail: tanayghosh334@gmail.com
Online Published on 31 July, 2024.
The study was carried out to discern the effects of dietary incorporation of herbal feed additives (black cumin, garlic and turmeric) in combination with linseed oil on nutrient utilization and haemato-biochemical parameters in White Leghorn layers for a period of 12 weeks. Birds were randomly distributed into four groups i.e. control T1: fed basal diet; T2, T3 and T4: fed basal diet incorporated with 1% herbal feed additives and 1, 1.5 and 2.5% linseed oil, respectively. Results showed no significant effect among groups in terms of DM and OM utilization. However, CP utilization (%) was found to be significantly highest in T2 (87.74 ± ± 1.22) followed by T3 (86.65 ± 0.97) compared to T1 (82.42 ± 0.74). The EE utilization (%) also improved significantly in T2 (90.59 ± 1.02), T3 (91.12 ± 0.58) and T4 (90.77 ± 0.33) compared to the T1 (86.92 ± 0.80). The average values of haematological parameters in terms of haemoglobin, PCV, TEC and TLC did not differ significantly among groups. Serum glucose concentration (mg/dl) was significantly lower in T2 (189.22 ± 2.75), T3 (186.40 ± 4.19) and T4 (186.80 ± 1.77) compared to T1 (204.03 ± 3.50). The average values of serum total protein did not differ significantly among groups. Significantly lower serum cholesterol (mg/dl) was observed in T3 (115.23 ± 3.37) and T4 (111.28 ± 5.25) compared T1 (142.83 ± 4.53) and T2 (133.33 ± 3.93). Significantly lowest serum triglycerides (mg/dl) were observed in T4 (212.86 ± 3.50) and T3 (219.02 ± 4.96) followed by T2 (230.30 ± 5.76) and highest observed in T1 (248.96 ± 5.31). Therefore, considering all these beneficial effect, 1% herbal feed additives along with 2% linseed oil could be used in layer’s ration to get maximized results.
• Dietary incorporation of additives significantly improves CP and EE utilization in layers.
• Significantly reduced serum glucose, serum cholesterol and serum triglycerides in layers.
Herbal feed additives, Linseed oil, Nutrient utilization, White Leghorn layers
