THE ROLE OF VITAMIN C AND ELECTROLYTES ON ALLEVIATING THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF HEAT STRESS ON BROILER CHICKS | ||
| Journal of Animal and Poultry Production | ||
| Article 5, Volume 32, Issue 12, December 2007, Pages 9945-9952 PDF (599.11 K) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/jappmu.2007.221166 | ||
| Author | ||
| A. A. Desoky, | ||
| Animal Production Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University | ||
| Abstract | ||
| The current study was conducted to investigate the role of electrolytes and vitamin C on eleminating the side effects of acute heat stress on the economical and physiological parameters in broiler chicks. Four hundred Hubbard broiler chicks at four weeks of age were devided into four groups. Groups 1 and 2 received tap water while groups 3 and 4 received water treated with electrolytes (2 g/L Sodium bicarbonate plus 2 g / L Potassium chloride) and vitamin C (1 g/L) respectively for 24 hr daily. First group served as a control and the other groups exposed to 4 hr heat stress (39 ± 1˚C) / day at 30 days of age for 3 days. The data showed that high environmental temperature induced significant elevation in body temperature, respiration rate, corticosterone, water consumption and mortality rate compared to the control. Triiodothyronine (T3) was significantly suppressed under heat stress condition compared to the control. Vitamin C and electrolytes treatment had no significant effects on body weight or weight gain compared to the control, while tap water treatment had significantly lowest body weight than the control. Addition of electolytes increased significantly water consumption than other groups. Moreover, water treatments (vit.C or electrolytes) reduced the mortality rate and suppressed the eleviation in body temperature and respiration rate significantly under high environmental temperature compared to the control. Vitamin C or electrolytes treatment had no significant effect on the suppression of T3 induced by heat stress, but vit.C neutralized the effect of heat stress on the corticosterone level and retarned back to the normal level. The present data concluded that vitamin C and electrolytes ameliorated the negative effects of heat stress and enhanced the chicks performance under stress condition. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| broiler; heat stress; vitamin C; electrolytes | ||
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