EFFECTS OF VITAMINS C AND E ON SOME PHYSIOLOGICAL PARAMETERS OF SHIKA BROWN LAYERS TRANSPORTED BY ROAD DURING THE HOT-DRY SEASON

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Date
2006-12
Authors
AJAKAIYE, Joachim Joseph
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Abstract
Twenty-two weeks old Shika Brown layer (SBL) chickens administered with vitamins C (L-ascorbic acid), and E (α-tocopherol) were investigated for their physiological responses to 6-h road transportation, covering a distance of 280 km at a speed of 40-50 km/h, during the late (May, 2006) hot-dry season in the Northern Guinea Savannah zone of Nigeria. 90 SBLs were divided into three groups comprising 30 birds each. Birds in Group I served as control, and they were given 5 ml of sterile water only. Group II layer chickens were administered orally 200 mg/kg of vitamin C dissolved in 5 ml of sterile water individually. Group III birds were given per os vitamin E at the dose of 200 mg/kg dissolved in 5 ml of vegetable oil. The following environmental and physiologic parameters were recorded during the course of the study. They include the ambient temperature (AT), relative humidity (RH), rectal temperature (RT), some haematological parameters. In addition biochemical and behavioural responses of both treated and control SBLs were recorded before, during and after 6 hours of road transportation, using standard recording methods. Egg production and liveweight were also recorded pre- and post-transportation. The AT at the experimental site fluctuated between the minimum value of 25 and the maximum of 320C, while the RH ranged between 77 and 99%. During the journey, the AT values inside the vehicle fluctuated between 27.0 and 33.00C, while the RH ranged between 48 - 73%. The meteorological results showed that the weather conditions during the late hot-dry season were predominantly outside the thermoneutral zone for layer chickens, indicating that the season was thermally stressful and did not favour transportation of the birds. There was no significant (P>0.05) difference between the RT of the control and treated groups pre-transportation The RT values obtained in control layers were significantly (P<0.05) higher than those recorded for vitamins C and E-treated layers during and post-transportation. The RT values recorded in treated and control layers fluctuated with the hour of the day and ambient temperature. The fact that the RT responses of the transported layers increased significantly and immediately after loading demonstrated that the loading of layers into the vehicle was an unusual exercise, affecting the physiological parameters of the birds reared under the intensive management system. The Packed Cell Volume (PCV), red blood cell (RBC) count and haemoglobin (Hb) values of vitamins C- and E-treated layer chickens decreased significantly (P<0.05) from 31.4  1.8 to 24.9  1.5%, 10.5  0.5 to 7.1  1.1 x 106/mm3, and 10.3  0.6 to 8.3  0.5 g/dl pre– and post-transportation, respectively. In control layers the haematological values obtained pre– and post– transportation did not differ significantly (P>0.05); with the exception of RBC values, which decreased significantly (P<0.05) from 10.1  0.3 x 106/mm3 pre-transportation to 8.0  0.6 x 106/mm3 post-transportation. In control layers, the heterophil/lymphocyte ratio rose significantly (P<0.05) from 0.26  0.02 pretransportation to 0.65  0.22 post-transportation. The significant increase in total protein (TP) in all experimental groups, suggested that the layer chickens suffered dehydration due to road transportation. The alkaline phosphatase (ALP) showed a significant decrease in the vitamin C-treated and control groups, but a sharp increase in the vitamin E-treated group. This may be due to its ability to maintain the supply of egg precursors in plasma of laying hens. Transportation decreased the liveweight of experimental layer chickens administered vitamins C or E by 9.1%, but in control layer chickens the decrease was 18.2%. Road transportation of layer chickens resulted in significant decrease in egg production in control birds, and the percentage reduction was as high as 44.7%. In vitamin E-treated layer chickens, the loss in egg production was lowest, 11%. The tonic immobility values indicated that the control birds showed significant signs of fear and fatigue as they exhibited greater responses to tonic immobility test than experimental birds. The results showed that pre-transportation administration of vitamin C or E ameliorated the adverse effects of road transportation stress in layer chickens, reduced the losses in liveweight and egg production. In conclusion, vitamins C and E reduced the adverse effects of road transportation stress during the late hot-dry season and enhanced productivity in transported layer chickens.
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A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE (VETERINARY PHYSIOLOGY) DEPARTMENT OF PHYSIOLOGY AND PHARMACOLOGY, FACULTY OF MEDICINE, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA, NIGERIA
Keywords
EFFECTS,, VITAMINS C AND E,, PHYSIOLOGICAL PARAMETERS,, SHIKA BROWN LAYERS TRANSPORTED,, ROAD,, HOT-DRY SEASON.
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