Performance, clinicopathological and histopathological evaluation of heat-stressed broilers fed diets differing in cation-anion difference

Abstract EN

Effects of heat stress on performance, hematobiochemical profiles and histopathological picture of broilers, feeding control diets and diet with different Dietary Cation-anion differences (DCAD), were experimentally evaluated in two hundreds, 25 days old Arbor Acres broilers chickens.

The chickens were classified into four main groups.Group A, fed control basal diet of 220 Meq/ kg diet and groups B,C and D fed on diet of 325,215 and 51Meq/kg DCAD,through addition of 0.9% NaHCO3, 0.9% KCl and 0.9% NH4Cl respectively.

After 3 days of adaptation on the experimental diets, each group was divided into two subgroups, one reared on normal ambient temperature(27C± 1C) and the other was exposed to extra heat to raise the ambient temperature to 34C for 18 h/day for three weeks.

The effect of modified DCAD on feed intake, body weight gain feed conversion ratio, water consumption, hematological and serum clinicobioch- emical (Hb% , PCV, RBCs count, Differential count, Serum ALT, AST,uric acid, Creatinine, Na+, K+, and plasma Ca++.) were all reported.

Histopathological changes in kidney and liver of heat-stressed broilers revealed renal casts, congestion and interstitial heamorrhges with focal interstitial leukocytic infltration.

Livers showed vacuolar degeneration and perivascular leukocytic infiltration.

The results of performance, clinicopathological and histopathological findings revealed that,modifying dietary Cation-anion differences (DCAD) in the ration of broiler chickens to 325, 215, and 51 meq /kg through addition of 0.9% NaHCO3,0.9% KCl and.09% NH4Cl respectively could partially alleviate the detrimental effect of heat stress in descending order.