Supplementation of inorganic and organic forms of zinc, selenium and chromium on immune responses in broiler chicken

Abstract

Poultry production is one of the rapidly growing sub sectors among the various livestock sectors in India. Besides contributing markedly to GDP and earning foreign exchange, it also produces good quality animal protein at an affordable price to meet the protein demand of human population by exploiting the genetic potential and adopting the standard scientific managemental and nutritional practices. Hence, in the present investigation we explored the use organic zinc, selenium and chromium to enhance immune response in broiler chickens. Total 312 day old Cobb broiler chicks were used in the experiment. Broilers were divided into 13 groups and each group consisting of 24 birds in 3 replicates. T1 group was kept as control. T2, T3, T4 group was supplemented with zinc (40 mg/kg of feed) from inorganic, 50% inorganic + 50% organic and organic form respectively. T5, T6, T7 group was supplemented with selenium (0.3 mg/kg of feed) from inorganic, 50% inorganic + 50% organic and organic form respectively. T8, T9, T10 group was supplemented with chromium (2 mg/kg of feed) from inorganic, 50% inorganic + 50% organic and organic form respectively. T11, T12, T13 group was supplemented with combination of all 3 minerals from inorganic, 50% inorganic + 50% organic and organic form respectively. The mean concentration of plasma IgG and corticosterone concentration showed non-significant difference between control and treatment groups in broiler. RT-PCR expression analysis of IL 10 gene revealed that maximum upregulation (9.21 fold) was found in T7 group, followed by T10 (4.80 fold) and T4 (4.6 fold) in spleen tissue as compared to control group. Mean heterophil and lymphocyte ratio was significantly (p