To assess the effect of ginger rhizomes essential oil on some reproductive parameters of laying birds, 80 female Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica) aged 3 weeks and weighing between 120 - 130 g were randomly assigned into 4 dietary treatment groups in a completely randomized design. From 3 till 13 weeks, birds in group 1 (control) received distilled water orally (100 μl/kg body weight), while the other three test groups during the same period, received respectively by gavage 50, 100 and 150 μl of ginger roots essential oil per kg body weight. At 11 weeks old, eight birds per group in each treatment were randomly selected and slaughtered, blood samples collected for analysis. On the other hand, the remaining females were maintained 3 with one untreated male in identical boxes per treatment, for fertility assessment, eggs characteristics and hatchability traits. Throughout the experiment, biochemical parameters, eggs characteristics, fertility and hatchability traits were analyzed. No significant change (p > 0.05) was observed during the experimental period for body and relative ovary weights. Contrary, the relative uterus weight significantly increased (p < 0.05) in dose-dependent manner. The level of serum total proteins, LH, FSH and estradiol significantly increased (p < 0.05) in a dose-dependent manner. Also, fertility, hatchability of fertile eggs, total hatchability and chick’s weight significantly increased (p < 0.05) in birds received 100 and 150 μl/kg b.w compared to those of control group. On the other hand, embryonic mortality decreased significantly (p < 0.05) whatever the ginger rhizomes essential oil dose. It was concluded that ginger rhizomes essential oil enhances bird reproductive performances, proteins and reproductive hormone levels and hatchability traits in treated female quails.
Essential oils are odorous organic substances found naturally in various parts of aromatic plants [
Ginger, the rhizome of Zingiber officinale, is one of the spices widely used worldwide for various foods and as an herbal medicine [
All of these have favorable effects on animal productivity, which may have partially contributed to increase reproductive performances of laying quail in this study. Abdollah et al. [
The study was carried out at Teaching and Research Farm of the University of Dschang (LN 05˚26', LE 10˚3'). Dschang is located about 1420 m above sea level. Climate is Sudano guinean temperated by altitude and about 2000 mm of rainfall spread over a single season from mid-March to mid-November. The average temperature is 20˚C and relative humidity generally exceeds 60%.
Fresh Ginger roots were harvested from the agricultural zone of Santchou (LN 5˚16'55", LE 9˚58'27") in the Menoua division, West Region of Cameroon, washed and then ground in a mortar in order to liberate the tissues. Oil extraction was done by hydrodistillation in PYTORICA Laboratory, Banapriso, Douala Cameroon following the protocol described by Wang and Weller [
Ninety-six female Japanese quails (3 weeks old, weight: 120 - 130 g) coming from the Teaching and Research Farm of the University of Dschang were used for the experiment. Each bird was identified by a ring bearing his number in one of its paws.
At the beginning of the experiment, birds were weighed and then assigned randomly into 4 dietary treatment groups in completely randomized design. From 3 till 13 weeks, quails in group 1 (control) received orally distilled water (100 µl/kg body weight), while birds of the other three test groups during the same period, received respectively by gavage 50, 100 and 150 μl per kg body weight of Ginger roots essential oil. At 12 weeks old, eight female quails per treatment were randomly selected and fasted for 24 hours, weighed and slaughtered as indicated by Jourdain [
At the slaughter moment, Blood samples were collected from the jugular vein in non-heparinized tubes and then centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 15 min. The resultant serum (supernatant) was stored in 1.5 ml Eppendorf tubes at −20˚C for biochemical analysis. In addition, 12 eggs (3/unit) were randomly picked out from each treatment on the same day of blood sampling. The yolk of each egg was manually isolated and homogenized with ice-cold isotonic physiological saline (0.154 mol/L; pH = 7.4) in the ratio of 1:9 for 5 min. The homogenate was then centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 30 min. The resultant supernatants were subsequently stored at −20˚C for cholesterol analysis.
After killing birds, organs including ovary and uterus were carefully removed, rid of adipose tissue, blotted dry and weighed separately. The relative organ weight was calculated using the above formula:
Constituents | Amount (kg/100kg) |
---|---|
Corn | 60 |
Bran wheat | 4.5 |
Soybean meal | 22 |
Fishmeal | 4.5 |
Oyster shell | 2 |
Bone meal | 2 |
Premix 5%* | 5 |
Total | 100 |
Bromatological characteristics | |
Crude protein (%) | 20.15 |
Metabolizable energy (Kcal/Kg) | 2906.80 |
Calcium (%) | 2.0 3 |
Phosphorus (%) | 1.27 |
Lysine (%) | 0.44 |
Methionine (%) | 0.14 |
Sodium (%) | 0.22 |
*Premix 5%: mixture of vitamins A, B complex, D, K and E principally and incorporated at 5% in diet.
Relative organ weight ( % ) = Organ weight ( mg ) Livebody weight ( g ) × 100
Serum biochemical parameters including total protein contents and cholesterol were determined using Biuret methods [
A total of 56 eggs per group were collected during 8 days, weighted individually and incubated. After artificial incubation for 19 days, all un-hatched eggs were cracked and classified as infertile or presenting an embryonic mortality. The fertility rate was then calculated by dividing the number of fertile eggs with the total number of eggs incubated.
For chick’s weigh, chicks per group were collected at the hatching period and individually weighted. The chick’s weigh was then calculated by dividing the total chick’s weight with the total number of chicks.
Data collected were subjected to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) at p < 0.05. When differences were significant, Duncan multiple range test was used to separate means. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 20.0.
The effects of ginger rhizomes essential oil on the body weight and the relative reproductive organ weights are shown in
The effects of ginger rhizomes essential oil on biochemical parameters as shown in
Parameters | Control (n = 12) | Essential oil doses (μl/kg body weight) | p value | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
50 (n = 8) | 100 (n = 8) | 150 (n = 8) | |||
Final body weight (g) | 231.25 ± 16.52a | 226.71 ± 15.11a | 230.75 ± 36.96a | 229.65 ± 21.79a | 0.98 |
Body weight gain (g) | 258.29 ± 37.54a | 251.86 ± 33.34a | 250.86 ± 39.52a | 255.14 ± 42.18a | 1.00 |
Organ weights (g/100g bw) | |||||
Ovary | 0.06 ± 0.01a | 0.07 ± 0.03a | 0.07 ± 0.02a | 0.07 ± 0.02a | 0.69 |
Uterus | 1.14 ± 0.11b | 1.44 ± 0.19b | 2.44 ± 0.43a | 2.15 ± 0.31a | 0.00 |
(a, b, c) On the same line, values affected by the same letter were not significantly different (p > 0.05). n = number of Coturnix coturnix japonica; p = probability; Values are presented as Means ± standard deviation.
Data in
As presented in
Chick’s weight significantly increased in female quails which received 100 and 150 µl/kg b.w of ginger rhizomes essential oil compared to control birds (
Because of its diverse properties, ginger rhizomes essential oil was administered orally to female Japanese quail in order to ameliorate its reproductive performances. Results of this study suggested that oral administration of ginger rhizomes essential oil had no significant effect (p > 0.05) in final body weight. This
Serum biochemical characteristics | Control (n = 8) | Essential oil doses (μl/kg body weight) | p value | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
50 (n = 8) | 100 (n = 8) | 150 (n = 8) | |||
Total proteins (g/dl) | 3.28 ± 0.19b | 3.76 ± 0.35a | 3.89 ± 0.09a | 3.68 ± 0.48a | 0.01 |
Total globulins (g/dl) | 1.07 ± 0.08a | 1.29 ± 0.22a | 1.18 ± 0.07a | 1.19 ± 0.16a | 0.26 |
LH (mIU/ml) | 3.50 ± 0.55c | 3.93 ± 0.45bc | 4.10 ± 0.36ab | 4.58 ± 0.38a | 0.00 |
FSH (mIU/ml) | 18.86 ± 2.12b | 19.43 ± 1.27b | 28.00 ± 1.73a | 27.14 ± 1.21a | 0.00 |
Oestradiol (ng/ml) | 61.17 ± 12.67c | 74.50 ± 14.61bc | 80.17 ± 17.89b | 96.33 ± 4.13a | 0.00 |
(a, b, c) On the same line, values affected by the same letter were not significantly different (p > 0.05). n = number of Coturnix coturnix japonica; p = probability; Values are presented as Means ± standard deviation.
Parameters | Control (n = 12) | Essential oil doses (μl / kg body weight) | p value | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
50 (n = 12) | 100 (n = 12) | 150 (n = 12) | |||
Egg characteristics | |||||
Egg weight (g) | 12.34 ± 0.15c | 12.73 ± 0.51b | 13.31 ± 0.22a | 12.76 ± 0.21b | 0.00 |
Shape index | 0.74 ± 0.02a | 0.77 ± 0.04a | 0.76 ± 0.03a | 0.78 ± 0.03a | 0.31 |
Hatchability traits (%) | |||||
Fertility | 75.00 ± 7.95b | 82.14 ± 2.47ab | 89.29 ± 5.89a | 85.71 ± 1.58a | 0.01 |
Hatchability of fertile eggs | 65.83 ± 11.43b | 63.09 ± 10.85b | 91.67 ± 8.82a | 83.09 ± 2.345a | 0.00 |
Total hatchability | 67.86 ± 9.37b | 64.29 ± 6.80b | 85.71 ± 12.37a | 76.07 ± 7.13a | 0.03 |
Embryonic mortality | 22.92 ± 4.17a | 13.57 ± 2.40b | 4.17 ± 3.14c | 7.74 ± 8.99bc | 0.00 |
Chick’s weight (g) | 8.59 ± 0.79b | 8.94 ± 0.97ab | 9.65 ± 1.36a | 9.56 ± 1.27a | 0.03 |
(a, b, c) On the same line, values affected by the same letter were not significantly different (p > 0.05). n = number of Coturnix coturnix japonica; p = probability; Values are presented as Means ± standard deviation.
result is in close agreement with the one of Bulbul et al. [
Egg weight increased in dose-dependent manner with ginger rhizomes essential oil. Our findings are in agreement with the results of Arpasova [
Estradiol (E2) is the main reproductive hormone playing a central role in the determination of egg mass and quality. It stimulates the avian liver to produce the yolk precursors vitellogenin and very-low density lipoprotein (VLDL), the primary sources of yolk protein and lipid, respectively [
With respect to the effect of ginger rhizomes essential oil on broiler biochemical parameters, the results presented in this study revealed that oral administration of essential oil at the selected levels increased the level of serum total proteins and globulin. These results are consistent with those of Zhang et al. [
In the present study, it was observed that: fertility, hatchability of fertile eggs and total hatchability rates increased with essential oil dose. These results are comparable to those found by Ali et al. [
In conclusion, our findings show that ginger rhizomes essential oil through its diverse properties enhances bird reproductive performances, especially the reproductive organs weight, biochemical parameters, eggs weight and hatchability traits.
Tchoffo, H., Ngoula, F., Kana, J.R., Kenfack, A., Ngoumtsop, V.H. and Vemo, N.B. (2017) Effects of Ginger (Zingiber officinale) Rhizomes Essential Oil on Some Reproductive Parameters in Laying Japanese Quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). Advances in Reproductive Sciences, 5, 64-74. https://doi.org/10.4236/arsci.2017.54008