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Asian Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances

Year: 2014 | Volume: 9 | Issue: 12 | Page No.: 743-755
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Authors

Abo El-Maaty

M.A. Hayam

M.H. Rabie

A.Y. El-Khateeb

Keywords

Research Article

Response of Heat-Stressed Broiler Chicks to Dietary Supplementation with Some Commercial Herbs

Abo El-Maaty, M.A. Hayam, M.H. Rabie and A.Y. El-Khateeb
An experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of feeding three types of herbs (cinnamon, turmeric and ginger) and ascorbic acid on the performance of broiler chicks kept under Egyptian summer conditions. A basal diet composed mainly of corn, corn gluten and soybean meal was used as a control and tested herbs were singly added at 0.5 g kg-1 and ascorbic acid at 200 mg kg-1; thus, five experimental diets were formulated and used from 2-6 weeks of age. All chicks were managed similarly. The criteria of response were growth performance, carcass traits, nutrient digestibility and some blood plasma parameters. Dietary supplementation with the tested herbs and ascorbic acid positively affected growth performance and economic efficiency of chicks while feed intake was unaffected. Feeding the tested materials improved digestibility of crude protein and ether extract but those of other nutrients were unaffected. Dressing-out percentage, carcass yield and liver were significantly improved due to feeding the experimental diets but other carcass traits were unaffected. Blood plasma triglycerides, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, very low-density lipoproteins and creatinine as well as activity of transaminases were significantly decreased while high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol was increased due to feeding the tested materials. Dietary supplementation with the tested materials led to a significant reduction in plasma malondialdehyde but reduced glutathione and activity of superoxide dismutase were increased. Dietary supplementation with cinnamon, turmeric or ginger at a level of 0.5 g kg-1 or ascorbic acid (200 mg kg-1) had beneficial effects on growth performance, blood metabolites and oxidative status of heat-stressed broiler chicks.
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