Adding hepatoprotective plants to beverage water: an alternative to conventional drugs for broiler production

The present work was to study the effects of Desmoduin adscendens, Khaya grandifoliola, Xylopia phloiodora extracts on growth parameters and selected blood parameters of broilers chickens. A total of 252 broiler chicks were randomly distributed into 4 groups. Chickens of control batch received commercial hepatoprotective (Hepaturyl 1 g/l) and the experimental groups received a formulation based on 3 extracts hepatoprotective plants at a concentration of 200, 100 and 50 mg/kg body weight. The mortality rate of control and experimental groups was 6.3% and 4.7% respectively. Average weight of batches at day 48 was, 2.6 for the control, 2.7 for the batch 2, 2.6 batch 3 and 2.5 kg batch 4 with an average consumption index ranging from 1.6 for the control and 1.7 for the experimental groups. Liver function in broilers was not altered (The values of alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase were 5-25 IU/l and 50-350 IU/l respectively). Cholesterolemia, proteinemia and the triglyceridemia increased with the age of the animals (0.6- 4.1 mmol / l; 21-83 g / l; 0.3- 3.8 g / l respectively). The kinetics of the humoral immune response against infectious bursal disease was not influenced. This work has shown that the use of the formulation as hepatoprotective in chick drinking water shows results similar to those of commercial hepatoprotectors.Keywords: Broilers, hepatoprotective plants, hepatic functioning, growth performances, immune response