Nashwan Majeed Ali*(1) and Walla Hussein Ali(2)
(1). DNA Research Center, University of Babylon, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. Iraq.
(2). Directorate of Agriculture of Babylon, Ministry of Agriculture. Iraq.
(*Corresponding author: Dr. Nashwan Majeed Ali. E-Mail: aalnidawi@yahoo.com).
Received: 31/01/2019 Accepted: 12/04/2019
Abstract
This study was conducted at the Research Farm of Shatrah Technical Institute, University of Southern Technical during the period 1/2/2018 until 10/6/2018, to investigate to the effect of adding different levels of peppermint oil to the hen’s diet on some hematological and physiological characteristics. A total of 180 layer hens aged 22 weeks old were used in this experiment. The birds were randomly and equally distributed on 5 treatments, with three replicates per each. The treatment included the addition of different levels of peppermint oil (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 ml/kg) to the diet, as treatment (T1- Control, T2, T3, T4 and T5 respectively). The studied parameters involved were: count of red blood cell (RBC), count of white blood cell (WBC), hemoglobin (Hb), Hetrophil/Lymphocytes ratio (H/L%), some liver enzyme (aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and malondialdehyde (MDA)), cholesterol, protein, glucose, calcium and phosphorus. The results showed that the addition of peppermint oil at levels of 25, 50 75 and 100 ml/kg diet of the layer hens at the beginning of egg production period significantly improved (p<0.05) the cellular indicators of the blood (PCV, RBC, HB, and H/L ratio). The peppermint oil had no effected on the total count of WBC. peppermint oil improved some of the biochemical parameters except for the activity of AST and MDA. It could be concluded that adding peppermint oil to the layer hens diet will improve some hematological and physiological parameters in their blood.
Key word: Layer hens, Hematological and physiological parameters, peppermint oil.
Full Paper in Arabic: PDF