Effect of Adding Cordyceps Sinensis Extract and the Probiotic to the Diet on some Blood Traits of Broiler
Authors: Shihab Salam Khalid , Nafea Husam Hikmet 
Published: April 2023

From October 28, 2021, to December 8, 2021, this study was done at the University of Anbar’s Department of Animal Production inside the College of Agriculture (42 days). The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of feeding broilers (aged 1–42 days) diets containing either a single dose or two doses of Cordyceps Sinensis (C.S) extract mushroom and the probiotic, as well as combinations of these ingredients, on the animals’ physiological performance and certain blood traits. In this study, 210 one-day-old (Ross 308) chicks weighing an average of 40g were split into seven treatments with three replicates each (10 chicks for each replicate). The control treatment (T1) was used as a baseline against which the effects of the experimental treatments could be measured. In treatments 2 and 3, C.S extract was added at 300 and 600 mg/kg feed, respectively. A probiotic was added to the meal at a dosage of 3 g/kg in Treatment 4 (T4) and 6 g/kg in Treatment 5 (T5). The sixth treatment (T6) added a probiotic (3 g/kg of feed) and a C.S. extract (300 mg/kg of feed). The seventh treatment (T7) involved adding 600 milligrams of C.S. extract per kilogram of feed in addition to 6 grams of probiotics per kilogram of feed. Treatments T1, T3, and T6 were shown to be statistically superior to T2 and T7 in terms of white blood cell trait (WBC), whereas Treatments T4 and T5 showed no significant differences. Treatments T3 and T7 were found to have a significantly (P≤0.05) higher heterozygous cell to lymphocyte ratio than treatments T2, T4, T5, and T6, but did not differ from the control treatment T1. Based on biochemical characteristics of the blood serum, it was found that the concentration of glucose in the blood was significantly higher in treatments T2, T4, T5, and T7 compared to treatments T1, T3, and did not differ between treatments T6 and T7 (P≤0.05). Treatments T2, T5, and T7 had a higher total protein concentration than treatments T1, T4, and T6, and did not differ significantly from treatment T3. Treatment T3 had the lowest total protein concentration. Treatments T2, T4, T5, and T7 had higher globulin concentrations than did treatments T1, T3, and T6 (P≤0.05). When comparing the effects of treatments T1, T4, T5, T6, and T7 on aspartate aminotransferase (AST), T1 and T4 showed a statistically significant (P≤0.05) reduction compared to treatments T2, T3, T5, T6, and T7. Concerning the concentration of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), the results showed a significant deterioration (P≤0.05) in treatments T3, T5 and T7 compared to treatments T1, T2, T4 and T6. Results reveal that treatment T3 significantly raises (P0.05) triglycerides and very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL) compared to treatment T2, but does not significantly differ from treatments T1, T4, T5, or T6 or T7. The results revealed that treatments T3, T4, and T5 considerably improved cholesterol concentration compared to treatments T2, T6, and T7 (P≤0.05), while treatment T1 did not significantly affect cholesterol concentration (control treatment). HDL (high-density lipoprotein) levels were found to be substantially (P≤0.05) higher in T1 (control treatment) and T3 compared to T4, T5, and T6, but did not differ significantly from T2 and T7. The results showed that the concentration of low-density lipoproteins (LDL) was substantially higher (P≤0.05) in treatments T2, T4, and T5 compared to treatments T1, T3, and T7, but did not differ significantly from treatment T6.