Table 8.
Effect of Tribulus Terrestris (TT) supplementation on histomorphometric measurements of ileum in broiler chickens.
| Variables | Treatments 1 | SEM 2 | p-Value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Control | T1 | T2 | |||
| Length (μm) | 419.17 a | 403.55 a | 307.47 b | 15.92 | <0.0001 |
| Width (μm) | 49.76 a,b | 52.43 a | 44.87 b | 1.89 | 0.007 |
| Villus surface area (mm2) | 0.065 a | 0.066 a | 0.042 b | 0.002 | <0.0001 |
| Crypt-depth (μm) | 26.96 a | 19.99 b | 26.12 a | 0.91 | <0.0001 |
| Villus length/crypt depth | 15.67 b | 21.01 a | 11.85 c | 0.93 | <0.0001 |
| Goblet cells (NO.) | 87.58 | 86.25 | 80.35 | 3.35 | 0.182 |
| Goblet cells/100 µm Villi area | 10.55 b | 10.73 b | 13.87 a | 0.87 | 0.004 |
| Epithelial thickness (μm) | 5.76 | 5.34 | 6.55 | 0.44 | 0.084 |
| Mucosa (μm) | 28.84 b | 33.61 a | 23.90 c | 0.76 | <0.0001 |
| Sub-mucosa (μm) | 13.48 a,b | 15.25 a | 12.25 b | 0.67 | 0.003 |
| Lamina propria thickness (μm) | 19.33 b | 23.52 a | 14.78 c | 1.26 | <.0001 |
a–c Means values within a row for each variable with clarification of the significant difference in the form of superscripts (p < 0.05). 1 Treatments: control, birds fed basal diet; T1, basal diet with 0.75 g Tribulus Terrestris/kg diet; T2, basal diet with 1.5 g Tribulus Terrestris/kg diet. 2 SEM = standard error of means for treatment effect.