Effects of Silymarin on Growth Performance, Internal Organs and Some Blood Parameters in Japanese Quail Subjected to Oxidative Stress Induced by Carbon Tetrachloride

The effects of Silymarin on growth performance, internal organs, and some blood parameters were investigated in Japanese quail that were subjected to oxidative stress induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4). An experiment was conducted as a completely randomized design in a factorial arrangement (2 × 2) with four replicates of 30 birds each. Factors included two levels of Silymarin (0 and 1 mL/kg of body weight (BW)) and two levels of CCl4 (0 and 1 mL/kg of BW). Results showed that Silymarin did not affect productive parameters, whilst CCl4 significantly (P < 0.05) reduced feed intake and body weight gain. Silymarin did not affect the relative weights of breast, gizzard and heart, whereas CCl4 reduced relative weights of breast and heart. Both Silymarin and CCl4 administration resulted in higher pancreases relative weight. Birds treated with Silymarin had greater blood serum concentration of total protein and lower concentrations of glucose, triglyceride and total cholesterol (P < 0.05). In contrast, birds that received CCl4 showed decreased total protein and increased glucose concentrations of blood serum (P < 0.05). The interaction effect between Silymarin and CCL4 showed that Silymarin ameliorated the adverse effects of CCl4 on blood albumin. Treatment of CCl4 increased blood concentration of alkaline phosphatase compared with Silymarin (P < 0.05). This study showed that Silymarin may be a useful antioxidant source to ameliorate the adverse effects of oxidative stressors in Japanese quail.