Abstract
An experiment was conducted to assess the anti-stress efficacy of Withania somnifera root on productive performance of Japanese quail hens reared under high environmental temperature (27-37-27 degrees C). Three hundred Japanese quail hens six weeks old were randomly distributed into five treatments: T-0=control, T-1 and T-2=quails supplemented orally with 50, 100 mg/kg/day Withania somnifera root ethanolic extract respectively, while T-3 and T-4 = quails received 1 and 2 g/kg diet Withania somnifera root powder respectively. The productive characteristics included: feed consumption, body weight gain and feed conversion ratio, in addition to total mortality percentage. Results showed that feed consumption increased significantly (p=0.01) in quails received 1g/kg root powder (T-3) in comparison with all other treatments (T-0, T-1, T-2 and T-4) whereas T-2 group was the lowest in this character. On the other hand, supplemented quails with 100mg/kg ethanolic extract (T-2) resulted in significant (p=0.05) increasing in body weight gain as compared with control group (T-0), yet, all treated groups didn't differ significantly among each others. The best (p=0.05) feed conversion ratio was obtained when the quails supplemented with root ethanolic extract (T(1)andT(2)) or with 2g/kg diet of root powder (T-4) in comparison with control. Withania somnifera root as ethanolic extract or powder resulted in significant (p=0.05) reduction in mortality percentage in comparison with untreated group.