Table 3 Effect of different levels of silver doped silica nanoparticles (SiO₂@AgNPs) on some hematological and immunological parameters of boiler chickens at 35 days of age

Hematological parameters

 Red blood cells (RBCs 10⁶/mm³)

1.57

1.41

1.53

1.47

0.030

0.396

 White blood cells (WBCs 10³/mm³)

21.00^b

20.77^b

22.67^ab

24.00^a

0.39

0.014

 Hemoglobin (Hb g/dl)

10.67^a

10.55^a

10.00^ab

9.67^b

0.17

0.053

 Packed cell volume (PCV %)

33.67

34.22

32.00

32.33

0.32

0.051

 Lymphocytes (%)

62.33

61.31

63.33

63.00

0.86

0.650

 Heterophils (%)

32.70

32.98

31.33

31.67

1.04

0.851

 H/L ratio

1.92

2.00

2.14

2.06

0.25

0.611

Monocytes (%)

3.00

3.35

3.67

4.00

0.33

0.782

Basophils (%)

0.67

0.77

1.00

0.67

0.10

0.590

Eosinophils (%)

1.30

1.26

0.67

0.67

0.19

0.426

Immunity parameters

 Phagocytic activity (PA)

19.33

19.95

21.00

21.00

0.35

0.253

 Phagocytic index (PI %)

1.97

1.93

1.93

2.03

0.32

0.798

 Antibody titter against NDV; HI

5.67

6.01

6.00

6.33

0.19

0.678

 Immunoglobulin M; IgM (mg/dl)

23.53^a

23.46^ab

23.13^c

23.23^bc

0.06

0.019

 Immunoglobulin G; IgG (mg/dl)

973.67^a

970.12^ab

965.00^c

968.00^bc

0.98

0.001

Lymphoid organs weight (%)

 Spleen

0.14^a

0.08^b

0.09^b

0.07^b

0.01

0.017

 Bursa

0.09

0.10

0.13

0.16

0.01

0.189

 Thymus

0.19^b

0.30^a

0.33^a

0.35^a

0.02

0.001