Table 5.
Effect of essential oil delivery route on plasma biochemical characteristics in broiler chickens.
| Parameters | Treatments 1 | SEM 2 | p Value 3 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Negative Control | In-Feed Antibiotics |
In-Water Essential Oil |
In Ovo Saline | In Ovo Essential Oil |
In Ovo Essential Oil + In-Water Essential Oil |
|||
| Electrolytes minerals (mmol·L−1) | ||||||||
| Sodium | 150 | 142 | 143 | 145 | 145 | 151 | 1.96 | 0.561 |
| Potassium | 5.93 | 5.79 | 6.12 | 6.66 | 5.90 | 6.36 | 0.22 | 0.497 |
| Sodium: Potassium | 25.9 | 24.8 | 23.8 | 23.0 | 24.9 | 24.0 | 0.61 | 0.556 |
| Chloride | 110 | 105 | 106 | 106 | 107 | 112 | 1.28 | 0.565 |
| Calcium | 2.68 | 3.01 | 2.69 | 2.65 | 2.67 | 3.04 | 0.05 | 0.072 |
| Phosphorus | 1.78 | 1.66 | 2.01 | 1.92 | 1.73 | 1.78 | 0.07 | 0.690 |
| Magnesium | 0.87 | 0.86 | 0.78 | 0.82 | 0.77 | 0.84 | 0.03 | 0.519 |
| Metabolites (mmol·L−1) | ||||||||
| Urea | 0.29 | 0.30 | 0.26 | 0.31 | 0.22 | 0.32 | 0.02 | 0.352 |
| Glucose | 14.1 | 13.4 | 13.5 | 13.6 | 14.0 | 14.1 | 0.22 | 0.809 |
| Cholesterol | 3.34 | 2.91 | 2.72 | 3.08 | 3.18 | 3.42 | 0.09 | 0.233 |
| Iron | 15.8 | 14.1 | 14.4 | 16.6 | 15.1 | 17.9 | 0.71 | 0.589 |
| Bile acids | 15.7 | 17.7 | 13.8 | 14.0 | 18.8 | 19.2 | 3.79 | 0.393 |
| Uric acid | 328 | 327 | 342 | 383 | 364 | 396 | 16.3 | 0.622 |
| Enzymes (U·L−1) | ||||||||
| Amylase | 459 | 405 | 376 | 657 | 572 | 626 | 39.6 | 0.221 |
| Alkaline phosphatase | 4506 | 2614 | 4263 | 4879 | 4055 | 5157 | 398 | 0.173 |
| Creatine kinase | 4873 a,b | 7903 a | 3100 a,b | 2541 b | 4309 a,b | 2408 b | 609 | 0.022 |
| Aspartate Aminotransferase | 180 a | 186 a | 144 b | 143 b | 165 a,b | 138 b | 5.33 | 0.028 |
| Gamma-Glutamyl Transferase | 9.7 | 9.5 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 9.3 | 9.9 | 0.38 | 0.993 |
| Lipase | 24.5 | 22.2 | 21.4 | 21.5 | 19.5 | 27.7 | 1.46 | 0.661 |
| Proteins (g·L−1) | ||||||||
| Total Proteins | 28.1 | 23.7 | 24.1 | 25.9 | 24.7 | 27.8 | 0.80 | 0.336 |
| Albumin | 12.6 | 11.0 | 10.5 | 11.3 | 11.4 | 11.8 | 0.28 | 0.459 |
| Globulin | 15.7 | 12.9 | 13.5 | 14.5 | 13.5 | 16.0 | 0.58 | 0.268 |
| Albumin: Globulin | 0.76 | 0.84 | 0.78 | 0.78 | 0.83 | 0.75 | 0.02 | 0.547 |
1 Treatments include—(1) Negative Control treatment- chicks fed a basal corn-soybean meal-wheat–based diet; (2) In-feed antibiotics- chicks fed NC + 0.05% bacitracin methylene disalicylate and (3) In-water essential oil- chicks supplied the essential oil via the water route at the recommended dosage of 250 mL/1000 L of drinking water; (4) In ovo saline treatment- eggs injected with 0.2 mL of physiological saline (0.9% NaCl); (5) In ovo essential oil treatment- eggs injected with 0.2 mL of a saline + essential oil blend mixture at a dilution ratio of 2:1, (6) In ovo + in-water essential oil treatment- chicks offered the essential oil blend via the in ovo and in water route, successively. 2 SEM = Standard error of means. 3 Means within a row with different superscripts a,b differ (p < 0.05).