Effect of vitamin E on some haematolgical aspects in cold-stressed broiler chickens

Abstract

Effect of vitamin E on some haematolgical aspects in cold-stressed broiler chickensH. H. AlewiTechnical Institute/ Al-MusaibAbstractThe present experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of vitamin E in modulating the side effect of cold-stress in broilers. Sixty (21 day old) Ross broiler chicks were randomly divided into two equal groups (2 replicates, 15 for each). All chicks were exposed to low environmental temperature (13°C) for 12 hours / day (06:00 p.m. to 06:00 a.m.) for 7 days. At the same day, tap drinking water were used for control group, and the drinking water for treatment group supplemented with Vitamin E (α-tocopherol) at a concentration of 15 I.U.L of drinking water.Results revealed that supplementation the drinking water of birds with Vitamin E resulted in significant decrease in heterophil / Lymphocyte (H/L)ratio (P<0.05), and blood glucose (P< 0.001) as compared with control group. The body weight of vitamin E treatment group were significantly ( P< 0.01) higher than control group. There was no significant difference between the two groups in haemoglobin (Hb) and packed cell Volume (PCV). The mortality rate was lower in vitamin E treatment group (3.33 %) as compared to control group (10 %).Results of the present study indicate that vitamin E supplements attenuate the negative effect of low environmental temperature by decreasing H/L ratio , blood glucose, and mortality rate while increasing body weight in cold-stressed chickens.