EFFECT OF ADDING SOME ORGANIC ANTIOXIDANTS TO BROILER DIETS UNDER HEAT STRESS CONDITIONS

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Animal production Dept.,Agric. & Biologic. Research Division, National Research Center,Dokki, Cairo, Egypt.

2 Poultry. Production Dept., Fac. of Agric. Ain Shams Univ., Shoubra El- Kheima, Cairo, Egypt.

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of increasing dietary levels of organic chromium, organic selenium and Vitamin E on heat stressed broilers. A total of 120 1-d old commercial broiler chicks (Cobb) were obtained from a local hatchary. Upon arrival the chicks were divided into four groups with six replications, each of five chicks. The first group was the control group, while the second group was fed the basal diet supplemented with organic chromium (0.8 mg/kg diet), the third group was fed the basal diet supplemented with organic selenium (0.3 mg/kg diet) and the fourth group was fed the basal diet supplemented with vitamin E (200 IU/kg diet).Body weight (BW); body weight gain (BWG); feed intake (FI) and feed conversion ratio (FC) were significantly (P≤0.05) improved in treatment groups compared to the control at 21 and 42 days of the age. Red blood cell count (RBSc), hematocrit (Ht), hemoglobin (Hb), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and heterophils/lymphocytes ratios (H/l ratio) were significantly (P≤0.05) different in vitamin E; organic selenium and organic chromium compared to the control at 21 and 42 days of the age, but RBSc count at 21 day of age were not significant. Moreover, values of glutathione peroxidase (GPX), Super-oxide dismutase (SOD) and Catalase (CAT) were significantly (P≤0.05) increased but Malondiadehyde (MDA) was significantly  (P≤0.05) decreased with supplemental vitamin E; organic selenium and organic Chromium compared with control. Carcass characteristics of supplemented broilers were also improved (P≤0.05) compared to the control. However, abdominal fat, thymus, bursa and spleen were not significantly changed.  The present results indicate that dietary supplementation of vitamin E; organic selenium and organic chromium, especially vitamin E, is necessary to overcome the deleterious effects of heat stress on broilers.

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