the immunomodulatory effects of ginger extract on hematological indices and humoral immune response in ostriches vaccinated against newcastle disease

Since current newcastle disease vaccination programs are not able to completely control the virus, the resulting mortality seriously harms the economy of ostrich farming, so the development of methods to protect ostrich chicks against this virus is necessary. among these methods, it is important to enrich the diet of ostrich chicks with compounds that can promote the humoral immunity of ostrich chicks. zingiber officinalis, having biologically active compounds, has been to have modulating effects on the immune system. the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of ginger extract on the immunogenicity of the newcastle vaccine in one-month-old ostrich chicks. thus, a total of 40 one-month-old ostriches were randomly divided into four groups of 10 ostriches each (with five repetitions). they were kept under the same management, breeding, and nutritional conditions. the first group, as a control group, received only the newcastle vaccine and did not receive the ginger extract. the second group received 1 gram of ginger extract daily for 3 consecutive days prior to receiving the newcastle vaccine. the third group received ginger extract 3 days after receiving the nd vaccine. the fourth group received ginger extract continuously from 3 days before vaccination to 3 days after vaccination. one-way anova analysis of the resulting data showed that the changes in hi antibody titer in ostrich chickens between groups 1 and 2 are not significant, but groups 3 and 4 had statistically significant hi antibody titers compared with control group. therefore, it can be concluded that the consumption of ginger at the rate of 1 gram per day for 3 consecutive days after vaccination or 6 days (3 days before and 3 days after vaccination) can increase the immunogenicity of newcastle vaccination in ostrich chicks.