Find in Library
Search millions of books, articles, and more
Indexed Open Access Databases
Dietary inclusion of chromium to improve growth performance and immune-competence of broilers under heat stress
oleh: Tagwa M. Norain, Izzeldin B. Ismail, Khalid A. Abdoun, Ahmed A. Al-Haidary
Format: | Article |
---|---|
Diterbitkan: | Taylor & Francis Group 2013-11-01 |
Deskripsi
<p>This study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation with chromium chloride, CrCl<sub>3</sub>.6H<sub>2</sub>O (2mg kg<sup>–1 </sup>basal diet) on the performance and immune response of broiler chickens under heat stress condition (25-43°C). A total of 80 one-day-old broiler chicks (Ross-308) were assigned to two treatment groups according to a completely randomized design. Each treatment consisted of four equal replicates, each contained ten chicks. Chicks were fed on basal diets supplemented with different concentrations of chromium (0 and 2 mg kg<sup>–1 </sup>CrCl<sub>3</sub>) from 1 to 35 days of age. Chromium supplementation as feed additives resulted in a slightly lower rectal temperature, and significantly (P<0.05) lower respiration rate for the broiler chickens received diet supplemented with chromium compared to the control (0 mg kg<sup>–1</sup> CrCl<sub>3</sub>). Dietary chromium supplementation increased final body weight (BW) at the end of the production period (5 weeks). Average weight gain was significantly (P<0.05) higher in chickens fed on chromium supplemented diet. Feed intake was not influenced by dietary chromium supplementation, however, the efficiency of feed conversion was improved (P<0.05) in chromium supplemented chickens. Furthermore, dressing percentage was significantly (P<0.05) higher in Cr-treated chickens compared to control chickens. Chromium supplementation significantly (P<0.05) improved the immune response to Newcastle Disease Virus vaccine (NDV). The present results suggest that dietary chromium supplementation provides a good nutritional management approach to ameliorate heat stress induced depression in production performance and immune response of broiler chickens. </p>