Nafeesa Abu Kassim - Institute of Tropical Agriculture and Food Security, Universiti Putra Malaysia ۴۳۴۰۰ UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Eric Lim Teik Chung - Institute of Tropical Agriculture and Food Security, Universiti Putra Malaysia ۴۳۴۰۰ UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Mohamed M. Alghirani - Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, ۴۳۴۰۰ UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Yee Lyn Ong - Institute of Tropical Agriculture and Food Security, Universiti Putra Malaysia ۴۳۴۰۰ UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Mamat Hamidi Kamalludin - Institute of Tropical Agriculture and Food Security, Universiti Putra Malaysia ۴۳۴۰۰ UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Faez Firdaus Abdullah Jesse - Department of Veterinary Clinical Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia, ۴۳۴۰۰ UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Teck Chwen Loh - Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, ۴۳۴۰۰ UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

The main aim of this study was to elucidate the potential of Yucca schidigera supplementation on the health performances, blood biomarkers, and relative telomere length of broilers reared under tropical conditions. A total of ۳۰۰ one-day-old male Ross ۳۰۸ broilers were purchased, weighed, and divided randomly into six dietary regimens. The dietary treatments consisted of T۱: commercial feed without antibiotics (negative control) and T۲: commercial feed added with ۱۰۰ mg/kg oxytetracycline (positive control). Birds in T۳, T۴, T۵, and T۶ were fed with commercial feed supplemented with ۲۵, ۵۰, ۷۵, and ۱۰۰ mg/kg of powdered Y. schidigera saponins. The broilers were monitored daily and the clinical sign and mortality were recorded. On day ۴۲, ten male broilers from each treatment were randomly selected and slaughtered, and blood samples were collected for leucocyte profiling, immunoglobulins, cytokines, and telomere length analyses. All data obtained were subjected to the Chi-Square Test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Tukey Post-Hoc Test to determine the significant differences among treatment groups. The data were considered significant at P < ۰.۰۵. Throughout the ۴۲-day study, a few cases of leg problems, diarrhea, and mortality were observed, but there were no significant associations (P > ۰.۰۵). However, there were significant differences (P < ۰.۰۵) in the leucocyte profiling, immunoglobulins, cytokines, and telomere length expression among treatments. Negative control broilers not fed with any additive demonstrated the lowest values as compared to the antibiotic and treatment groups. Overall, T۶ broilers fed with a diet supplemented with ۱۰۰ mg/kg of Y. schidigera saponins exhibited the best leucocyte profiling (increased total WBC count, monocytes, and basophil count; decreased H/L ratio), immunoglobulins (upregulated Ig-G, Ig-A, and Ig-M,), cytokines (increased IL-۴ and IL-۷), and the longest telomere length expression followed by T۲ broilers. In summary, this study has established that ۱۰۰ mg/kg of Y. schidigera saponins supplementation in diet can be used to enhance the health performances of broilers raised under hot and humid conditions.

Cytokines, H/L ratio, Immunoglobulins, Saponins, relative telomere length