Table 7.

Effect of AAE on the expression of small intestinal immune-related genes in broilers.

Items	AAE supplemental level, g/kg					p value
	0	0.5	1.0	1.5	2.0	ANOVA	Linear	Quadratic
21 d
IL-1β
Duodenum	1.00 ± 0.00a	0.98 ± 0.22a	0.99 ± 0.22a	0.71 ± 0.18b	0.61 ± 0.12b	0.010	0.001	0.002
Jejunum	1.00 ± 0.00	0.84 ± 0.22	0.91 ± 0.18	0.89 ± 0.23	0.84 ± 0.14	0.732	0.536	0.558
Ileum	1.00 ± 0.00a	0.52 ± 0.08b	0.55 ± 0.07b	0.50 ± 0.10b	0.47 ± 0.06b	<0.001	0.001	<0.001
IL-6
Duodenum	1.00 ± 0.00	0.95 ± 0.27	0.86 ± 0.22	0.79 ± 0.20	0.92 ± 0.04	0.563	0.250	0.285
Jejunum	1.00 ± 0.00	0.95 ± 0.27	0.99 ± 0.17	0.91 ± 0.13	0.93 ± 0.19	0.925	0.435	0.742
Ileum	1.00 ± 0.00a	0.76 ± 0.21ab	0.69 ± 0.17b	0.71 ± 0.16b	0.64 ± 0.06b	0.039	0.010	0.010
TLR4
Duodenum	1.00 ± 0.00	0.90 ± 0.23	0.68 ± 0.13	0.96 ± 0.21	0.86 ± 0.17	0.656	0.537	0.568
Jejunum	1.00 ± 0.00	1.09 ± 0.27	1.06 ± 0.14	1.10 ± 0.22	1.30 ± 0.21	0.936	0.412	0.692
Ileum	1.00 ± 0.00a	0.99 ± 0.18a	0.76 ± 0.17bc	0.94 ± 0.15ab	0.59 ± 0.13c	0.004	0.004	0.013
NF-κB/p65
Duodenum	1.00 ± 0.00ab	1.10 ± 0.13a	0.91 ± 0.13b	0.91 ± 0.06b	0.82 ± 0.19b	0.040	0.014	0.035
Jejunum	1.00 ± 0.00	1.03 ± 0.26	0.95 ± 0.21	1.05 ± 0.22	1.05 ± 0.22	0.969	0.724	0.904
Ileum	1.00 ± 0.00	0.88 ± 0.13	1.08 ± 0.28	1.11 ± 0.23	0.97 ± 0.05	0.430	0.510	0.750
42 d
IL-1β
Duodenum	1.00 ± 0.00a	1.08 ± 0.22a	1.01 ± 0.10a	0.72 ± 0.22b	0.88 ± 0.18ab	0.082	0.068	0.197
Jejunum	1.00 ± 0.00	0.88 ± 0.20	0.92 ± 0.08	0.84 ± 0.24	0.66 ± 0.14	0.128	0.012	0.036
Ileum	1.00 ± 0.00	0.98 ± 0.18	0.92 ± 0.21	0.93 ± 0.07	1.17 ± 0.05	0.144	0.310	0.060
IL-6
Duodenum	1.00 ± 0.00b	1.30 ± 0.24a	1.23 ± 0.16ab	1.27 ± 0.23ab	1.03 ± 0.15b	0.054	0.752	0.016
Jejunum	1.00 ± 0.00	1.16 ± 0.22	1.04 ± 0.18	1.12 ± 0.26	1.12 ± 0.07	0.764	0.403	0.655
Ileum	1.00 ± 0.00	1.02 ± 0.27	1.20 ± 0.21	1.03 ± 0.13	1.10 ± 0.14	0.600	0.400	0.580
TLR4
Duodenum	1.00 ± 0.00	0.75 ± 0.19	0.63 ± 0.13	0.60 ± 0.09	0.72 ± 0.11	0.119	0.051	0.020
Jejunum	1.00 ± 0.00	1.42 ± 0.30	1.03 ± 0.20	0.99 ± 0.13	1.16 ± 0.15	0.585	0.913	0.925
Ileum	1.00 ± 0.00	0.85 ± 0.27	1.10 ± 0.21	1.14 ± 0.18	1.06 ± 0.13	0.720	0.427	0.729
NF-κB/p65
Duodenum	1.00 ± 0.00	1.07 ± 0.15	1.24 ± 0.28	1.16 ± 0.07	1.06 ± 0.23	0.308	0.287	0.117
Jejunum	1.00 ± 0.00ab	0.95 ± 0.12ab	1.09 ± 0.19a	0.92 ± 0.02ab	0.82 ± 0.08b	0.065	0.085	0.069
Ileum	1.00 ± 0.00	0.93 ± 0.23	1.15 ± 0.20	1.05 ± 0.26	0.99 ± 0.07	0.752	0.770	0.720

AAE, Artemisia annua L. aqueous extract; IL-1β, interleukin 1 beta; IL-6, interleukin 6; TLR4, toll like receptor 4; NF-κB /p65, nuclear factor kappa B/p65.

^a−cMeans within a row with different letters differ significantly (p < 0.05), whereas the probability value of 0.05 ≤ p < 0.10 was considered as a tendency.

Each value is shown as mean ± SD (Data are means for five replicates of eight birds per replicate).