Dietary supplementation of Ferula badrakema and sodium saccharin: Effects on the growth performance, blood metabolites, immune response, antioxidant status, and gut histomorphology in broiler chicks

This study investigated the effects of dietary supplementation with Ferula badrakema (FB) root powder and sodium saccharin(SAC) on broiler chicks. A total of 468 one-day-old male Ross 308 chicks were allocated in a completely randomized design with a 3 × 2 factorial arrangement, consisting of three levels of FB (0%, 0.75%, and 1.5%) and two levels of SAC (0% and 0.15%), with six replicates per treatment. SAC supplementation significantly increased feed intake (FI) during days 1–10 and over the entire experimental period (days 1–42) (P < 0.05). The addition of FB further increased FI in diets containing SAC but decreased it in diets without SAC. SAC also improved body weight gain (WG) (P < 0.05) and significantly elevated blood uric acid levels (P < 0.05). Orthogonal contrasts showed that FB supplementation significantly increased blood uric acid, albumin, and phosphorus concentrations (P < 0.05), while reducing cholesterol and triglyceride levels (P < 0.05). Additionally, FB enhanced total antibody titers and IgG concentrations on day 35, as well as IgG and IgM levels on day 42. FB supplementation reduced malondialdehyde (MDA) concentrations and increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity (P < 0.05), indicating an improved antioxidant status. Both SAC and FB increased jejunal villus height (P < 0.05), and their interaction significantly reduced cecal Escherichia coli counts (P < 0.05). In conclusion, SAC mitigated the FB-induced reduction in feed intake, whereas FB improved immune function, intestinal morphology, and blood lipid profiles in broiler chicks.