Behavioral, hepato-morphological, and biochemical studies on the possible protective effect of black seed and water bath against change-mediated heat stress on pigeon

Abstract Background Heat stress condition (34 °C, Egyptian summer season) in pigeon leads to a lot of negative impacts on behavior, physiology, hepatic architecture, and biochemical parameter changes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of water bath as a managerial and low-quality diet (wheat) as well as some feed additives (propolis or black seed) as nutritional factors for improvement of these changes. Results The result showed that heat stress condition induced a significant decrease in feeding behavior, feed intake, body gain, H\L ratio, and total antioxidants, while catalase, glucose, and cholesterol levels were significantly increased. These changes were accompanied by severe damage of the hepatic tissues that illustrated as swelling, vacuolation, collagenous tissue deposition, and venous congestion. Conclusions The negative effect of heat stress condition was significantly declined by addition of water bath or feeding on black seed grains. Furthermore, feeding on the wheat grains only during summer season had economic impact as it did not show any more negative effects on the studied parameters. In conclusion, water bath and black seed have a protective role against the heat stress-mediated effects.