Evaluation of Beta-Adrenergic Agonist Theophylline Function in Reducing Inflammation on Blood Metabolites and Egg Quality Traits in Laying Hens at the end of Production Period

Since the phenomenon of inflammation is considered as one of the significant challenges in different sectors of the livestock industry, so this study aims to evaluate the inflammatory strategy of Theophylline (a Phosphodiesterase, PDE inhibitor) on some production characteristics in laying hens at the late period of egg production (The severity of chronic ovarian inflammation increases due to consecutive ovulation in older laying hens), egg quality characteristics and histological evaluations of infundibulum were performed.

The study was conducted in a completely randomized design, over a period of 4 weeks, using 24 laying hens of W-36 line strains (older than 90 weeks). The birds were randomly divided into two treatments (including a level with a concentration of 3 mg perlive body weight as orally and a control treatment) with 3 replications per treatment and 4 birds per replication. Percentage of oviposition, mean egg weight and feed conversion ratio were calculated. Eggs were collected randomly and weekly and the ratio of shell weight to egg weight, egg shell thickness, egg specific gravity, units and yolk index were measured. Blood were sampled from wing vain to measure glucose, triglyceride and cholesterol. At the end of the study period, the chickens were dissected and the appearance of the ovaries and ovarian tumors were assessed. Also, after evaluating the appearance of the follicles, tissue was sampled from the area closest to the infundibulum to the ovary.

The results showed that despite being none significant result in body weight and daily food intake (p>0.05), usage of PDE inhibitor Theophylline caused to increase in pre-ovulatory follicle diameter (F1) (p≤0.05). Among the quality characteristics of eggs as an indicator of anti-inflammatory effects on oviduct function, egg white height, egg height and shell thickness in birds under the influence of theophylline increased significantly (p<0.05). theophylline supplementation increased blood triglycerides in treated birds (p<0.05). The ratio of control treatment, the use of theophylline could improve the histological anti-inflammatory properties of oviduct by increasing the stability of the epithelial cilia of infundibulum.

The supplementation of PDE inhibitor Theophylline could improve some of the production characteristics and improve some egg quality indicators due to its anti-inflammatory effects in oviduct.