Propolis supplementation improved productivity, oxidative status, and immune response of Barki ewes and lambs

Vet World Vol.12 June-2019 Article-17

Research Article

Veterinary World, 12(6): 834-843

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2019.834-843

Hesham Attia Shedeed¹, Bahaa Farrag¹, Eman Ali Elwakeel², Ibrahim Samir Abd El-Hamid¹, and Muhammed Ahmed Hilmy El-Rayes¹

1. Animal and Poultry Production Division, Desert Research Center, Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Egypt.
2. Department of Animal and Fish Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21545, Egypt.

Background and Aim: The present study was conducted to study the effect of propolis administration on bio-hematological parameters, antioxidant enzyme activities, and productivity of Barki ewes during late pregnancy and lactation under the arid conditions.

Materials and Methods: Twenty-five pregnant Barki ewes were fed the basal diet (n=12, control) and the basal diet plus propolis (5 g/kg diet, n=13) for 1 month before parturition and continued 2 months after parturition. Milk yield and milk composition, hematological constituents, antioxidant enzyme activities, thyroid hormones, and lambs birth and weaning weights, and antioxidants were determined.

Results: Significant (p<0.05) increase in white blood cells in the propolis group compared to control was observed. Mean corpuscular hemoglobin (Hb) (MCH) and corpuscular Hb (MCH concentration %) were decreased (p<0.05) in propolis compared to control group. Milk yield was increased (p<0.05) in the propolis group compared with control and continued to increase with the advancement of lactation. Milk fat and milk total solids increased (p<0.05) in the propolis group than the control. Plasma immunoglobulin A (IgA) was increased (p<0.05) in propolis compared to control with no effect in IgM and IgG. Superoxide dismutase, hydrogen peroxide (HP), and nitric oxide were decreased (p<0.01) in the propolis group compared to control. Weaning weight for lambs born to ewes fed propolis was increased (p<0.05) at week 8 after birth compared with control lambs. Malondialdehyde and HP activities were decreased (p<0.01) in lambs born to propolis ewes compared to control.

Conclusion: Crude Chinese propolis (5 g/d) supplementation improved milk yield, milk composition, and the antioxidant enzymes in Barki ewes and immune functions, growth performance and antioxidant status in their lambs under arid conditions. Keywords: antioxidants, Chinese propolis, immunoglobulin, productivity, sheep, thermorespiratory responses.

Keywords: antioxidants, Chinese propolis, immunoglobulin, productivity, sheep, thermorespiratory responses.

How to cite this article: Shedeed HA, Farrag B, Elwakeel EA, Abd El-Hamid IS, El-Rayes MA-H (2019) Propolis supplementation improved productivity, oxidative status, and immune response of Barki ewes and lambs, Veterinary World, 12(6): 834-843.

Received: 14-02-2019 Accepted: 02-05-2019 Published online: 18-06-2019

Corresponding author: Eman Ali Elwakeel E-mail: emankeel@yahoo.com

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2019.834-843

Copyright: Shedeed, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.