Vol. 12, Special Issue 11 (2023)

Author(s):
S Mohammed Zubair, C Kathirvelan, P Vasantha Kumar, K Rajendran, S Mukesh and S Sridhar

Abstract:
This study investigated the potential impacts of graded levels of Euglena gracilis algae-derived beta-glucan supplementation on broiler serum proteins and liver enzyme activities. A total of 240 one-day-old Vencobb-430y broiler chicks were distributed among five dietary groups, with six replications and eight birds in each replication. Group I serving as the negative control receiving basal diet (T₁), Group II serving as the positive control receiving antibiotic growth promoter, avilamycin at 10 ppm with basal diet (T₂). In Group III, IV and V, the beta-glucan, procured from Kemin Industries, was incorporated into basal diets at 50, 100, and 150 g/ton respectively (T₃, T₄ and T₅). Serum protein fractions and liver enzyme activities were analyzed after a five-week feeding period. Supplementation of graded levels of algae-derived beta-glucan (T₃, T₄ and T₅) significantly (p<0.05) increased serum total protein (g/dl) levels and significantly increased (p<0.01) globulin (g/dl) levels and significantly (p<0.01) decreased albumin/globulin ratio compared to the negative control group (T₁) and 100 and 150g/ton supplementation of beta-glucan (T₄ and T₅) groups significantly (p<0.01) increased serum globulin (g/dl) levels and decreased albumin/globulin ratio compared to the positive control group (T₂) and no significant changes in the serum albumin (g/dl), ALT (U/L) and AST (U/L) levels were observed. The obtained results indicating that algae-derived beta-glucan had high immunity enhancement than antibiotic avilamycin supplementation in broiler diets which supports beta-glucan as an antibiotic alternative.