Effects of Ming aralia (Polyscias fruticosa) supplementation on reproductive performance some biochemical and antioxidant indicators of laying hens

Phan Thi Hong Phuc and Nguyen Duy Hoan

Faculty of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry, Thai Nguyen City, Vietnam
ndhoan@tnu.edu.vn

Abstract

Two hundred local Ri hens, 40 weeks old, were randomly divided into 4 groups MLM0, MLM5, MLM10 and MLM15 (10 hens each , repeated 5 times) corresponding to 4 supplementation levels of 0, 5, 10 and 15 g of Ming aralia leaf meal/ kg of feed. All birds were raised in free range system. VietGap's biosafety backyard chicken farming technique is applied to raise all birds up to 46 weeks of age. The results of the experiment showed that the adding of 5 - 15 g/kg of MLM increased not only egg production but also egg weight (p<0 05).Other indicators such as egg mass, feed intake, FCR and body weight gain, although there were differences between treatments, were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). The albumen ratio tended to increase in the treatment groups, on the contrary, the yolk color index clearly increased in the groups supplemented with MLM. MLM supplementation did not affect on the ratio of egg components except that the yolk color index increased proportionally to the level of MLM added to the diet. Supplementing 5-15 g/kg of MLM to the diet of laying hens reduced the total lipid, triglycerides and LDL cholesterol content in the blood at all treatments compared to the control ( p < 0 05), increased the content and activities of GSH-Px, SOD, and T-AOC in the liver and serum, decreased content of MDA compared with control (p< 0.05).

Keywords: feed additive, medicinal plants, Polyscias fruticosa

Introduction

Eggs are an important and popular protein source for humans because they are identified by nutritionists as one of the most complete proteins. In addition to the genetic factor of the hen, the quality of eggs produced by the hen is further influenced by the diet consumed by the hen. Although antibiotic residues in eggs and antibiotic resistance are issues of little concern to poultry product consumers. However, the current era of limited use of antibiotics in livestock has promoted research on medicinal plants and herbs as a suitable alternative (Habeeb et al 2023). For a long time, Ming aralia has been used as a valuable medicinal plant because it contains 8 types of saponins such as glucosides, tannins, about 20 types of amino acids, alkaloids, and B vitamins (Do et al 2021). Some studies adding Minh aralia to broiler diets have shown that this plant helps enhance digestion, absorption and increase the body's resistance (Haniarti et al 2019; Phuc and Hoan 2023). For a long time, Polyscias fruticosa has been recognized as one of the precious herbs in some Asian countries such as China, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, etc. Research results of scientists have shown that Polyscias fruticosa contains many beneficial substances for humans and pets. The stems, leaves and roots contain 20 types of amino acids, including some irreplaceable amino acids such as lysine, methonine, cysteine, etc. In addition, the leaves also contain many vitamins B1, B2, B6 and some alkaloids. Especially in the stem and root contains 8 types of saponins similar to the saponins found in Korean ginseng (Huan et al 1998; Do et al 2021). Do et al (2017) used nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy analysis method to isolate 3 acid compounds 3-O-[βD-glucopyranosyl-(1x4)]-x-Dglucuronopyranosyloleanolic acid from the n-buthanol fraction, oelanolic acid from diethyl ether fraction and stigmasterol from ethyl acetate fraction from Polyscias fruticosa leaves grown in An Giang, Vietnam. Because of the valuable properties they bring to humans and livestock, farmers have grown this tree as another crop. This plant does not need much light, so to save cultivation area, Polyscias fruticosa has been planted under the canopy of industrial crops such as coffee, rubber, and cashew. Vietnam is one of the countries with a large area of Polyscias fruticosa (about 1000 hectares) and the annual area growth rate is about 20% (Nguyen and Hoang 2019). If intensive farming is applied, the green matter productivity of Polyscias fruticosa can reach 5 to 6 tons of leaves/year (Nguyen et al 2019; Le et al 2022), bringing economic efficiency 5-6 times higher than that of rice (Vietnam Academy of Agriculture 2017). Continuing previous studies, this study supplemented Ming aralia leaf meal on laying hens to determine the effects of this plant on reproductive performance, egg quality and some indicators related to health, resistance and antioxidants in the body and in the eggs laid by hens.

Materials and methods

Location and time

The experiment was conducted at the experimental farm in Phu Binh district, Thai Nguyen province, Vietnam from June to August in 2023. The chemical analysis of feeds and eggs was done at the laboratory of the Faculty of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry. The biochemical and antioxidant parameters of bloods, eggs and liver were analyzed at Thai Nguyen Central Hospital.

Experimental diets, animals and management

A total of 200 local Ri hens, 40 weeks of age were randomly divided into 4 groups (10 hens, each, repeated 5 times), corresponding to 4 diets with different levels of Ming aralia leaf meal (MLM) supplements. Four treatment diets were formulated which were MLM0 (Control) = Hens in this treatment received 0g Ming aralia leaf meal per kg feed inclusion in their diet (Table 1); MLM5 = Hens in this treatment received 5g Ming aralia leaf meal per kg feed inclusion in their diet; MLM10= Hens in this treatment received 10g Ming aralia leaf meal per kg feed inclusion in their diet; MLM15= Hens in this treatment received 15g Ming aralia leaf meal per kg feed inclusion in their diet. All birds were raised in free range system at a density of 4 m² of garden/hen. VietGap (Vietnamese Good Agricultural Practices)'s biosafety backyard chicken farming technique is applied to raise all birds up to 46 weeks of age.

Performance parameters

Egg weight, egg production, feed consumption were recorded daily throughout the experimental period in each treatment. Body weight gain was calculated for each treatment group through the hens' body weight at 40 weeks and 46 weeks of age. Egg composition ratio was assessed at 46 weeks of age using 15 eggs for per treatment (3 egg per repetition). Eggs are weighed individually, broken, separated from the yolk and albumin, weighed and calculated as a percentage of the whole egg's weight. The yolk color index was determined by comparing the yolk color with the color ranges of the Roche yolk color fan.

Blood and egg yolk analysis

At the end day of the experiment 15 laying hens were randomly selected from each group (3 per replicate). After fasting for 12 h, blood samples (10 ml) were obtained from the wing vein and centrifuged at 3000× g at 4 °C for 10 min. The serum was stored at −80 °C for analysis. The liver tissues were removed, washed, packed, and frozen for later analysis of oxidation status. Total lipids, triglycerides, cholesterol, density lipoprotein of blood and yolk were analyzed using BC-3000Plus equipment of Mindray company (China), Standards: ISO9001, ISO13485. Serum malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) activities were measured using commercial kits (Nanjing Jiancheng Institute of Biological Engineering, Nanjing, China).

Statistical analysis

Data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using IBM SPSS statistics, version 21 (SPSS, 2013) and significantly different means were separated using Duncan’s new multiple range test procedure and accepted at 5% (0.05) probability level.

Results and discussion

Effects of Ming araliasupplementation on egg production, egg quality of Ri hen

The results of evaluating the effects of MLM supplementation in the diet on egg production of Ri hens are shown in Table 2. Adding of 5 - 15 g/kg of MLM increased not only egg production but also egg weight (p<0 05).Other indicators such as egg mass, feed intake, feed conversion ratio and body weight gain, although there were differences between treatments, were not statistically significant ( p > 0.05). The improvement in egg production was reported previously due to adding ginger (Moeini et al 2011), black cumin seed (Khana et al 2013), thyme (Abdel-Wareth et al 2013), cinnamon (Simsek et al 2015) or pomegranate peel (Abbas et al 2017). Some authors such as Moeini et al (2011), Khana et al (2013), and Abbas et al (2017) have reported that the average weight of eggs can be increased by adding ginger, cumin seeds black or pomegranate peel. These authors also reported that they did not observe any significant effects on feeding parameters when supplementing laying hen diets with black cumin, thyme, cinnamon or pomegranate seeds. The lack of effect of herbs on feeding performance has been illustrated previously. Because laying hens are adult birds, the digestive system has developed with more stable intestinal bacteria that are resistant and not changed when given herbs (Bozkurt et al 2014).

Figure 1. Effect of MLM on egg production	Figure 2. Effect of MLM on egg weight

The egg composition ratio (Table 3) showed that although the egg yolk ratio increased due to MLM feeding, the difference was not obvious in other treatments compared to the control. Similarly, the eggshell ratio did not have a clear difference between the treatments and the control. Meanwhile, the albumen ratio tended to increase in the treatment groups, on the contrary, the yolk color index clearly increased in the groups supplemented with MLM. The differences in both of these indicators are statistically significant with p<0 05. Some studies have shown that egg yolk weight is not affected when feeding black cumin seeds (Abou-Elkhair et al 2018), cinnamon (ٍٍSimsek et al 2015), ginger (Incharoen and Yamauchi 2009). Hassan and Alaqil (2014) observed a significant increase in yolk color scores when black cumin seeds were added to the diet of laying hens. Abou-Elkhair et al (2018) suggested that the increase in yolk color may be due to pigments in black cumin seeds.

As shown in table 5, supplement 5-15 g MLM per kg of feed increased the content and activities of GSH-Px, SOD and T-AOC in the liver and serum compared with control (p< 0.05). Additionally, the content of MDA decreased in the all of treatments (p< 0.05).Comparison of 3 levels of supplementation showed that the content of GSH-Px, SOD and T-AOC in the liver and serum gradually increased gradually and proportionally with the level of MLM supplementation in the diet (p < 0.05).Compared with the control, the all of treatments had significant effect on the liver and serum antioxidant indices (p > 0.05) except for serum MDA (p > 0.05).

According to Lee et al (2017) excessive production of free radicals in laying hens can lead to oxidative damage, resulting in cellular, DNA, protein, and lipid damage, ultimately affecting poultry production and health. SOD and GSH-Px are the first line of enzymatic antioxidant defense, and serve as specific scavengers of free radicals, making them markers of activated antioxidant enzyme systems. T-AOC is used to assess the overall antioxidant capacity of an organism (Sun et al 2019). MDA is the primary product of lipid peroxidation and is commonly used as a biomarker to assess oxidative damage (Ding et al 2017). Lee et al (2023) demonstrates that supplementing the diet of laying hens with the Chinese herbal feed-additive containing Elsholtzia ciliate, Atractylodes macrocephala, Punica granatum pericarpium and Cyperus rotundus can improve production performance and egg quality. These improvements are associated with changes in the antioxidant capacity, immunity, intestinal morphology, and intestinal microbiota.

Conclusions

Supplementing the diet with Ming aralia leaf meal up to 15 g/kg, as a natural feed additive, has helped improve the health and resistance of laying hens, thereby increasing egg production and egg quality.

Acknowledgments

The project was funded through Decision 1839/QD-BNN-KHCN in 2022. The authors received help from colleagues at Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry and Thai Nguyen Central Hospital.

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