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Received: 10 Aug., 2016 Revised: 10 Sep. 2016 Accepted: 12 Sep., 2016
ABSTRACT
Restricted use of chemical antioxidants and antibiotics as growth enhancers in poultry diet has led to open channels for herbs as natural feed additive in current times. Scientists try to find novel herbal feed additives which are free from toxic effects and exhibit increase in performance of poultry birds. Aloe vera is a well-known herb characterized by antioxidant, antiinflammatory, immunostimulatory and growth promoting properties. The therapeutic potential of Alo vera is attributed to its rich phytochemistry. The current study was designed to evaluate the ameliorative potential of alcoholic extract of Aloe vera (family Liliaceae) in poultry birds. The birds were divided in four groups of six birds in each group. Group I: Contol (C), Group II: treatment I (T1), Group III: treatment II (T2) and Group IV: treatment III (T3). Alo vera supplementation was given in three treatment groups at the dose of different concentrations ( T1: 2gms, T2:5gms and T3: 7gms). Blood samples were collected on different time points 0, 14, 28, 42 and 56thdays and analyzed for different parameters. The altered biochemical parameters due to oxidative stress like Lipid peroxidation (LPO), super oxide dismutase (SOD), reduced glutathione (GSH), glucose -6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), Aspartate aminotransferase (AST), Alanine aminotransferase (ALT),blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and Creatinine were significantly ameliorated to a great extent by Aloe vera supplementation. The alcoholic extract of Aloe vera showed potent anti-oxidant and hepato-protective activity in poultry birds.
Keywords: Oxidative stress, AST, ALT, KFT, Aloe vera, poultry, herb
Herbal feed additives are commonly defined as plants, plant extracts and plant derived pure compounds used into poultry feeds. These feed additives enhance the performance of poultry birds due to their ameliorative effects on poultry birds through strengthening their immune system against the diseases and increased productivity, performance and quality of the products obtained from these birds. Various plant derived products have been studied in terms of their ameliorative potential in poultry. Oxidative stress has deleterious effects on health. It leads to the hyper-production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which inturn leads to multifactorial illness including weakness of immune system, decrease in performance and increased susceptibility to diseases. Natural antioxidants have gained tremendous importance...