%0 Journal Article
%T The effects of ˇ°Beijing grassˇ± in diet on egg performance, egg quality, humoral immunity and carcass characteristics in Japanese quails
%A Chethanond
%A U.
%A Watanasit
%A S.
%A Towatana
%A N.
%A Prommeung
%A P.
%J Songklanakarin Journal of Science and Technology
%D 2005
%I Songkla University
%X Beijing grass (Bj. grass: Murdannia loriformis) is widely used in patients and was found to have pharmalogical effects as immunomodulator and anticancer. Thus, we aimed to demonstrate its effects in quail as a model for poultry application. We evaluated the performances using Bj. grass in diets of laying quails aged 7-12 weeks, namely, (1) egg performance, (2) egg quality, (3) humoral immunomodulation and (4) carcass characteristics. The performances in laying quails were studied using 244 seven-week-old female quails which were left from feeding diets containing Bj.grass during growing period and were maintained in the same treatments. The experiment used a completely randomized design and animals were divided into 5 treatments consisting of 4 replications with 12-14 heads each. Quails were assigned to each dietary treatment as follows: No Bj. grass and no vaccination (control) (T1), No Bj. grass and vaccination (T2), Bj. grass 3% and vaccination (T3), Bj. grass 6% and vaccination (T4), control diet and 10% Bj. grass juice (w/v) and vaccination (T5). These birds were boostered with Newcastle disease vaccine at 7th week after the first vaccination in the growing period. Approximately 25% of quails were bled for determination of packed cell volume, gamma globulin levels and ND-HI titers. All quails were put to sleep at 15 weeks to carcass characteristics examined. We found that Bj. grass could be used as high as 6% in the diet without abnormal clinical signs. It was noticed that 3% Bj. grass tended to yield best performances among Bj. grass formulated groups (T3 and T4) and Bj. grass juiced group (T5) but showed no differences from the control group. (P>0.05). There were no differences in packed cell volume and gamma globulin level. ND-HI titers of Bj. grass 3% (T3) were higher than other groups (2.33 ˇŔ 1.97 log2) but did not reach protection level. For carcass characteristics, there was a doserelated reduction of abdominal fat. (P=0.000)
%K Beijing grass
%K Murdannia loriformis
%K Japanese quail
%K egg performance
%K egg quality
%K immunomodulation
%K carcass characteristic
%U http://www.sjst.psu.ac.th/journal/Thai-Herbs-pdf/18-Beijing-grass-quail.pdf