IMPACT OF PROPOLIS SUPPLEMENTIONS ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES IN JAPANESE QUAIL

To investigate the response of feeding Japanese quail chicks to propolis supplementation on growth performance, blood constituents, hormones, immunity, antioxidant, carcass characteristics and bacterial count, one hundred and twenty, oneweek-old Japanese quail chicks were divided to four dietary groups with three replicates (10 birds). The first group fed a basal diet, while the groups 2 nd ,3 rd and 4 th were fed with 200, 400 and 600 mg of propolis/kg diet until the age of six weeks. The results showed a significant improvement in feed intake, body weight, body weight gain and feed conversion with increasing of propolis supplementation. All treatments increased significantly (P<0.01) percentage of dressing and internal organs than the Control birds. Propolis supplementation significantly (P<0.01) increased blood components; Hb, RBC, PCV, WBCs, lymphocyte, total protein, globulin, albumin, glucose, high density lipoprotein, total antioxidant capacity, IgM, IgG, thyroid hormones (x10 3 ) as compared to control group and decreased total lipids, plasma cholesterol, LDL, ALT, AST. Moreover, propolis decreased the Intestinal total anaerobic, aerobic microflora counts and total coliform compared to control group. There was no effect on monocytes, eosinophils and neutrophils as compared to control group. The results showed that supplementation of propolis at levels of 200, 400 and 600 mg of propolis/kg feed improves growth performance, blood components, antioxidant indices, thyroid hormones, immune parameters and carcass characteristics.