Vol. 10, Special Issue 12 (2021)

Author(s):
Mrigakshi Yadav, Sunil Kumar Rastogi, Ruokuobeinuo Huozha, Mayank Patel, Satish Kumar, Manish Verma, Abhinav Maiti, Arup Kumar Das and Bhaskar Ganguly

Abstract:
Vitamin E is a major cellular antioxidant functioning as a chain-breaker and free radical scavenger. Enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants are the fundamental defense mechanisms and preliminary biomarkers for evaluating oxidative stress at cellular level. Moreover, efficient immunocompetence is a critical determinant for poultry production. Therefore, antioxidant activity and immunological studies were conducted on ninety broiler chicks (Cobb 400), divided into two groups (Group I and II) with three replicates of 15 chicks each. Groups I broilers were fed with basal diet and group II with basal diet along with 100g/tonne feed of α-tocopherol for five weeks. Serum lipid peroxidation level, reduced glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione reducatase (GR), glutathione peroxidise (GPx) activity and delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) reaction, total immunoglobulin concentration were assessed after 5 weeks of the trial. α-tocopherol dietary supplementation significantly (P<0.05) increased serum GSH, SOD activity, DTH response after 48 and 72 hours of initial sensitization, whereas decreased the lipid peroxidation level in chickens. The results suggested the immunomodulatory and antistress properties of α-tocopherol proposing it as a promising antioxidant for maximizing poultry production and performance.