ABSTRACT Hawthorn has been traditionally used to improve blood circulation and medicating cardiac disorders as well as blood stasis and elimination of pulmonary hypertension. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of different levels of hawthorn extract in the drinking water on cardiac indicators, serum antioxidant activity, growth and immunity of pulmonary hypertensive broilers reared at high altitude and prone to ascites. A total of 225 one-day-old unsexed broiler chicks (Ross308) were randomly assigned to 15 floor pens. A basal corn-soy based diet was formulated for all treatments. The treatments consisted of the addition of 0, 0.1, or 0.2 mL of hawthorn extract per liter of drinking water. Both levels of hawthorn flavonoid extract significantly (p<0.05) improved feed intake, body weight gain and FCR, and significantly (p<0.05) reduced abdominal fat, liver, and heart relative weights, as well as the number of birds affected with PHS compared with the controls. RV and TV were significantly (p<0.05) lower in hawthorn flavonoid extract fed birds than the controls in addition of significantly (p<0.05) lower TBARS but higher NO serum levels. In conclusion, hawthorn flavonoid extract may effectively be used as an herbal medicine to prevent pulmonary hypertension and cardiac disorders in chickens.

ABSTRACT Hawthorn extract has been used for ameliorating cardiac disorders and pulmonary hypertension. Flavonoids and oligomeric proanthocyanidins are considered to be responsible for the positive health effects of hawthorn extract. The effect of Hawthorn extract in the water supply on feed intake, growth, carcass traits, internal organ weight, cardiac indices, the concentration of serum proteins and the incidence of pulmonary hypertension syndrome was evaluated in broiler chickens. At one day-of-age, 225 chickens were assigned to one of three experimental groups where 0, 0.1 and 0.2 ML of hawthorn extract was added per one liter of drinking water. Feed intake, live weight gain and carcass weight increased when hawthorn extract was included in the drinking water at a level of 0.1 and 0.2 ML/L (p<0.05). Compared to no extract, the addition of Hawthorn extract in the drinking water (p<0.05) reduced the proportion of the body attributed to abdominal fat, liver and heart (p<0.05), and decreased the percentage of birds that died or showed clinical symptoms of pulmonary hypertension syndrome (p<0.05). Serum protein concentration was (p<0.05) higher in chickens that received the hawthorn extract in the drinking water compared to no addition of extract in the drinking water. Hawthorn extract has shown potential for use as a herbal medicine to aid in the prevention of physiological cardiac disorders and pulmonary hypertension in chickens.