In vivo effect of Andrographis panniculata nees and Morinda citrifolia on expression of toll-like receptors in indigenous Nicobari fowl

A study on the effect of feeding of Nicobari fowl breeders with Andrographis panniculata (Kalmegh) and Morinda citrifolia (Noni) and its subsequent effect on TLR (Toll like receptors) expression in post-hatch chicks was carried out. Two hundred seventy breeding Nicobari fowls were assigned to each of three dietary treatments namely, T1: Control groups; T2: Kalmegh @ 3g per bird per day; T3: Noni @ 10ml per bird per day. Chicks were hatched out from experimental groups and at 15 days of age, spleen samples were collected from chicks through slaughter. Expression of TLR was quantified with Real-Time PCR (QPCR) and fold difference in expression of different TLRs was analysed. Supplementation Kalmegh significantly improved the expression levels of TLR3, TLR4, TLR5, by 5.4, 9.7 and 1.6 times, respectively as compared to control; while noni supplementation up regulated the expression levels of respective TLRs by 2.9, 5.0 and 0.48 times. We concluded that in vivo exposure to bioactive components present in herbal plants up regulated the expression of TLR4 and TLR5 in chicks that is responsive for their antiviral inducing property at gene level. Thereby kalmegh and noni might be promising alternatives for antibiotic growth promoters.