Effest of Ligustrum lucidum on growth and immunity in layer chickens

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of Ligustrum lucidum(LL) on the growth and the immunity of layer chickens.384 chickens of 1 day old were randomly divided into 4 groups with 6 replicates.The control group was provided with basal diet,the trial groups were provided with basal diet plus 5 mg·kg-1 flavomycin,0.5% and 1% LL respectively.The feeding trial lasted for 18 weeks.The results showed that LL had no significant effects on average daily gain and feed conversion ratio;LL could significantly increase the index of thymus and spleen of layer chickens in the middle and later period;LL increased antibody level significantly;LL had positive effect on serum C3 and C4 of chickens in the early and middle period,and it also had positive effect on serum TNF of layer chickens in the middle period;LL could significantly increase proliferative of lymphocyte of chickens.The results showed that LL had positive effects on the growth and the immunization of layer chickens.