Elbaz Ahmed M, Ashmawy Eman S, Farahat M A A, Abdel-Maksoud Ahmed, Amin Shimaa A, Mohamed Zangabel S
Animal and Poultry Nutrition Department, Desert Research Center, Mataria, Cairo, Egypt.
Microbiology Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jan 5;15(1):861. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-82725-9.
Environmental heat stress causes significant economic loss in the poultry industry. Therefore, interest has increased in using feed additives to reduce the negative impacts of heat stress on the chickens and improve production performance. This study aimed to assess the effect of supplementing with Nigella sativa nanoparticles (Nano-NS) as an anti-stress and growth promoter in broiler diets under hot climatic conditions. A total of 375 male one-day-old Ross 308 chicks were randomly divided into a control group and four treatment groups (75 chicks/group). The first group fed a basal diet without additives, the second group fed a basal diet supplemented with avilamycin at 50 mg/kg, and the other groups fed a basal diet supplemented with 30, 40, and 50 mg/kg Nano-NS, respectively. Despite that feed intake was not affected, feed conversion ratio, body weight gain, and crude protein digestibility improved in broilers fed Nano-NS (P < 0.05) compared with avilamycin and the control groups. Adding Nano-NS led to an increase in the dressing percentage and the relative weight of the bursa of Fabricius and thymus. Serum high-density lipoprotein levels increased while total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein concentrations decreased (P < 0.05) in broilers fed Nano-NS compared with control groups. Furthermore, Nano-NS supplementation significantly increased (P < 0.05) serum immunoglobulin (IgG and IgA), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels, while decreasing malondialdehyde (MDA), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) concentration. Moreover, there was a significant increase in the Lactobacillus population and a decrease (P < 0.05) in the E. coli and C. perfringens population in chicks fed Nano-NS. In the intestinal tissues, mucin 2 (MUC2) gene expression increased in chickens fed 50 mg/kg Nano-NS compared to other groups. It is concluded that adding Nano-NS (up to 50 mg/kg) reduced the negative effects of heat stress via enhancing growth performance, immune responses, and antioxidant status, modulating the microbial community structure, and increasing the expression of the MUC2 gene in broilers under high ambient temperature.
环境热应激给家禽业造成了巨大的经济损失。因此，人们对使用饲料添加剂来减轻热应激对鸡的负面影响并提高生产性能的兴趣日益增加。本研究旨在评估在炎热气候条件下，在肉鸡日粮中添加黑种草纳米颗粒（Nano-NS）作为抗应激和生长促进剂的效果。总共375只1日龄的罗斯308雄性雏鸡被随机分为一个对照组和四个处理组（每组75只雏鸡）。第一组饲喂不含添加剂的基础日粮，第二组饲喂添加了50 mg/kg阿维拉霉素的基础日粮，其他组分别饲喂添加了30、40和50 mg/kg Nano-NS的基础日粮。尽管采食量未受影响，但与阿维拉霉素组和对照组相比，饲喂Nano-NS的肉鸡的饲料转化率、体重增加和粗蛋白消化率均有所提高（P < 0.05）。添加Nano-NS导致屠宰率以及法氏囊和胸腺的相对重量增加。与对照组相比，饲喂Nano-NS的肉鸡血清高密度脂蛋白水平升高，而总胆固醇和低密度脂蛋白浓度降低（P < 0.05）。此外，添加Nano-NS显著提高了（P < 0.05）血清免疫球蛋白（IgG和IgA）以及超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）水平，同时降低了丙二醛（MDA）、白细胞介素-6（IL-6）和肿瘤坏死因子-α（TNF-α）的浓度。此外，饲喂Nano-NS的雏鸡中乳酸杆菌数量显著增加，大肠杆菌和产气荚膜梭菌数量减少（P < 0.05）。在肠道组织中，与其他组相比，饲喂50 mg/kg Nano-NS的鸡的粘蛋白2（MUC2）基因表达增加。得出的结论是，添加Nano-NS（高达50 mg/kg）可通过提高生长性能、免疫反应和抗氧化状态、调节微生物群落结构以及增加高温环境下肉鸡MUC2基因的表达来减轻热应激的负面影响。
