Table 5.
Effects of oregano essential oil on immunity in plasma and intestine of yellow-feathered chickens at 30 d of age1
| Treatments2 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Variables | CON | AB | OEO-150 | OEO-300 | SEM | P-value |
| Plasma | ||||||
| IgG, g/L | 478.5b | 518.9b | 562.7ab | 699.3a | 50.41 | 0.031 |
| IgM, g/L | 31.39 | 30.27 | 28.69 | 28.64 | 2.583 | 0.849 |
| TGF-β, ng/L | 152.5a | 139.2ab | 129.1ab | 104.8b | 14.43 | 0.091 |
| TNF-α, ng/L | 30.63 | 31.32 | 28.58 | 30.21 | 1.975 | 0.702 |
| Jejunum | ||||||
| IgG, µg/mg prot | 122.8 | 138.1 | 123.1 | 129.9 | 9. 466 | 0.174 |
| IgM, µg/mg prot | 10.83 | 9.57 | 9.83 | 9.72 | 0.561 | 0.393 |
| SIgA, µg/mg prot | 3.28 | 3.77 | 3.49 | 3.43 | 0.168 | 0.255 |
| TGF-β, ng/mg prot | 28.82 | 21.90 | 26.33 | 30.25 | 2.349 | 0.568 |
| TNF-α, ng/mg prot | 9.60 | 8.67 | 8.89 | 8.29 | 0.840 | 0.501 |
| Ileum | ||||||
| IgG, µg/mg prot | 50.96 | 55.69 | 60.01 | 61.33 | 6.044 | 0.639 |
| IgM, µg/mg prot | 11.23 | 12.13 | 13.24 | 13.72 | 0.798 | 0.152 |
| SIgA, µg/mg prot | 1.36b | 1.26b | 1.50a | 1.54a | 0.132 | 0.078 |
| TGF-β, ng/mg prot | 26.37 | 32.05 | 28.50 | 32.22 | 2.860 | 0.416 |
| TNF-α, ng/mg prot | 9.13a | 8.28ab | 7.83ab | 6.62b | 0.609 | 0.057 |
1Data are means with the SEM derived from ANOVA error mean square for n = 6.
2CON, control diet; AB, control diet containing 20 mg/kg virginiamycin; OEO-150, control diet containing 150 mg/kg organic essential oil; OEO-300, control diet containing 300 mg/kd organic essential oil.
a,bMeans within the same row with different superscripts differ significantly (P < 0.05).