Immunomodulatory and protective effects of polyherbal formulation against Escherichia coli infection in broiler birds

The present experiment was performed on a total 120 day-old broiler chicks, which were divided into 4 groups.Escherichia coli infection was experimentally induced in all groups except the environment control group.One group of infected birds was kept as infection control.Birds of two groups were treated with polyherbal formulation or standard antibiotic (Enrofloxacin).Mortality percentage, feed conversion ratio, blood and serum parameters as well as antibody titres against NDV and IBDV vaccines were measured.Feed intake data revealed no major difference among all treatment groups.Birds treated with standard antibiotic gained the highest weight.Moreover, no mortalities were observed in all three groups except the infection control group.Haematology on the 21 st and 42 nd day showed that all key parameters were improved in polyherbal and standard drug control group.The heterocyte/lymphocyte (H/L) ratio, the marker of stress indicator was found normal in all groups except increased in the infection control group on 42 nd day of the experiment.In addition, uric acid, ALT and AST were found significantly improved in the polyherbal-treated group.The mild changes were found in the polyherbal and standard antibiotic-treated group whereas, marked pathological changes were observed in the infection control group.Polyherbal formulation can effectively act as an immunostimulant as highest antibody titre was found against NDV and IBDV antigens.In conclusion, polyherbal formulation containing Allium sativum, Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Coriander sativum, Cuminum cyminum, Mentha piperita, Syzygium aromaticum, and Withania somnifera was found effective to protect against Escherichia coli infected broiler birds as well as demonstrated immunostimulant property.