Effect of sage (Salvia officinalis L.) aqueous leaf extract on performance, blood constituents, immunity response and ileal microflora of broiler chickens Behrouz Rasouli . Sajjad Movahhedkhah . Alireza Seidavi . Quazi M. Imranul Haq . Isam Kadim . Vito Laudadio . Domenico Mazzei . Vincenzo Tufarelli Received: 4 July 2018 / Accepted: 14 May 2019 Ó Springer Nature B.V. 2019 Abstract This study was aimed to evaluate the effect of different levels of sage (Salvia officinalis L.) aqueous leaf extract on performance, blood parame- ters, immunity response and ileal microflora in broiler chickens. A total of 300 male Ross-308 chicks were used until 42 days of age. Birds were randomly divided into five groups (three replicates with 20 birds per replicate) The treatments consisted of a control diet without feed additive and experimental diets supplemented with four levels of sage extract in drinking water (0, 100, 200, 300 and 400 ppm, respectively). Based on results, with the exception of significant differences between groups I and II regarding growth performance, in overall no differ- ences among treatments were observed on body weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio. Blood analysis showed that broilers fed different levels of sage extracts decreased (P \ 0.05) plasma total cholesterol, triglycerides and low-density lipoprotein and increased high-density lipoprotein. A significant (P \ 0.05) enhancement of the immunity response of broilers was observed when the dietary concentration of sage extract increased. Further, a significant (P \ 0.05) bactericidal effect of sage extract was detected for Escherichia coli, whereas it was moderate for Lactobacillus. In conclusion, the positive effects sage extract on broilers immunity parameters and antibacterial activity were found to be strictly related with the dietary inclusion level. Keywords Salvia officinalis Á Growth performance Á Blood Á Immunity Á Microflora Á Chicken Introduction Sage (Salvia officinalis L.) is a perennial green shrub with woody stems, grayish leaves, and blue to purplish flowers in the mint family of Labiatae-Lamiaceae. It grows worldwide and the species S. officinalis is native to Middle East and Mediterranean regions. The greenish parts of S. officinalis shrub has a history of culinary use and folk medicine. In traditional medi- cine, it has been used for the treatment of seizure, ulcers, gout, rheumatism, inflammation, dizziness, tremor, paralysis, diarrhea, mild dyspsia, and B. Rasouli Á S. Movahhedkhah Á A. Seidavi Department of Animal Science, Rasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran Q. M. I. Haq Á I. Kadim Department of Biological Sciences and Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Nizwa, PO Box 33, 616 Birkat Al-Mouz, Nizwa, Sultanate of Oman V. Laudadio Á D. Mazzei Á V. Tufarelli (&) Department of DETO, Section of Veterinary Science and Animal Production, University of Study of Bari ‘Aldo Moro’, Valenzano, Bari, Italy e-mail: vincenzo.tufarelli@uniba.it 123 Agroforest Syst https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-019-00401-8