Influence of the Immunomodulator AVIGEN to Broiler Chicken Humoral Immune Factors

Abstract

The nonspecific immune response plays an important role in organism's defense against a variety of pathogens. Two major factors in this process are blood serum lysozyme and alternative pathway of complement activation (APCA). Over the past few decades, the application of various substances, targeting improved levels of natural immunity have become part of the mainstream trends in livestock rearing programs. The current study examined the influence of the polybacterial immunomodulator AVIGEN on the performance of the aforementioned immune factors among broiler chicken hybrids. The experimental group demonstrated better overall performance for both parameters of interest. APCA activity for the treated group (549.10±19.69 CH50) was significantly higher compared to the result obtained for the controls (377.40±9.58 CH50), (P<0.001). Results for the other parameter were even more indicative. The measured concentration of the serum lysozyme for the treated group was twice as high compared to the control birds - 6.17±0.49 mg/L vs. 2.99±0.27 mg/L, respectively. Therefore, the introduction of the AVIGEN immunomodulator to animals' diet has strong potential to improve natural humoral immunity in poultry farming.