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Effect of Dietary Supplementation of Graded Levels of Chromium Picolinate on the Production Performance, Immune Competence Traits, Development of Digestive Organs and Carcass Quality Traits of Coloured Chicken

Sandeep Singh Kashyap Pankaj Kumar Shukla Amitav Bhattacharyya Rajneesh Sirohi
Vol 8(4), 65-70
DOI- http://dx.doi.org/10.5455/ijlr.20171013023852

One hundred and twenty straight run, day old coloured chicken (Chabro) were distributed into four treatments: T1-basal diet, T2- T1+400ppb chromium picolinate (cp), T3- T1+800ppb cp, T4- T1+1600 ppb cp. There was no significant difference on average weekly body weight gain of coloured chicken among treatment groups except in 7th week during which T1, T2 and T3 were significantly higher (p<0.05) than that of T4. FCR was significantly better (P<0.05) in T1, T3 and T4 than T2 at 3rd week. Response to 1% SRBC (log2 titre) and cell mediated immune response to PHA-P were comparatively better in T3 than other groups. There was no significant difference among treatment groups in the carcass quality traits and cut up parts. Thus, it may be inferred that supplementation of 800 ppb chromium picolinate revealed no adverse effect on body weight gain and resulted in higher humoral and cell mediated immune responses in coloured chicken.


Keywords : Body Weight Gain Chromium Picolinate Coloured Chicken Immunity

Trace mineral supplementation is now widely considered not only essential but also beneficial in poultry. They are involved in numerous biochemical functions, making them essential for optimal growth and health. Supplementation of Cr has promising effects on the immune system due to relative increase in lymphoid organ weight, decreased heterophil-lymphocyte ratio, enhanced antibody response against infectious diseases and increased cell-mediated immune response (Khan et al., 2014). Having such beneficial effects in broilers, studies on supplementation of organic chromium in broiler ration are necessary as most diets are primarily composed of ingredients from plant origin which are usually low in chromium. Hence, a study was conducted to assess effect of dietary supplementation of graded levels of chromium picolinate on production performance, immune competence traits, development of digestive organs and carcass quality traits of coloured chicken.

Materials and Methods

Birds and Feed

One hundred and twenty straight run, day old coloured chicken (Chabro) were distributed into four treatments: T1-basal diet or Control diet (C.P-22%, M.E- 2900 kcal/kg), T2- T1+400ppb chromium picolinate (cp), T3- T1+800ppb cp, T4- T1+1600ppb cp.

Body Weight and Feed Conversion Ratio

Weekly body weight gain and group feed consumption was recorded. Thereafter, weekly feed conversion ratio was calculated at the end of the experiment.

Immunocompetence Traits

The general innate immune-competence status of chabro birds was assayed by measuring two important immunocompetence traits as antibody response to SRBC and cell mediated immune response to PHA-P at 8 week of age.

Antibody Response to Sheep Red Blood Cells (SRBC)

HA antibody titres against 1% SRBC in chabro birds was determined as described by Siegel and Gross (1980) and Vander Zijpp (1983). IgG and IgM antibodies were determined by means of a mercaptoethanol (ME) HA test as per the method described by Martin et al. (1989).

In vivo cell Mediated Immune Response

The cellular immune response was assessed by cutaneous basophilic hypersensitivity test in vivo by using PHA-P (Phytohaemagglutinin, lectin from Phaseolus vulgaris) (Corrier and De Loach, 1990).

Development of Digestive Organs and Carcass Quality Traits

At 8 weeks of age, six representative birds from each treatment group was randomly selected and sacrificed to study the gastrointestinal tract development (proventriculus, gizzard, small intestine, large intestine and caeca) and various carcass traits.

 

Statistical Analysis

Data were subjected to one-way analysis of variance in a completely randomized design (Snedecor and Cochran, 1994) using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, 2011). Homogenous subsets were separated using multiple range test described by Duncan (1955). Differences among treat­ments were considered to be significant when P≤0.05.

Results and Discussion

Body Weight Gain and Feed Conversion Ratio

There was no significant difference on average weekly body weight gain of coloured chicken among treatment groups except in 7th week during which T1, T2 and T3 were significantly higher (p<0.05) than that of T4 (Table 1).

Table 1: Effect of dietary supplementation of graded levels of chromium picolinate on average weekly body weight gain (g) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) of coloured chicken

Average weekly body weight gain Weekly feed conversion ratio
1st wk 2nd wk 3rd wk 4th wk 5th wk 6th wk 7th wk 8th wk 1st wk 2nd wk 3rd wk 4th wk 5th wk 6th wk 7th wk 8th wk
62.46 112.87 160.8 187.13 210.93 190.6 218.46b 191.86 2.39 2.29 2.17a 2.48 2.46 2.51 2.52 2.5
64.67 112.26 150.6 196.6 215.13 189.07 218.13b 191.73 2.24 2.34 2.47b 2.2 2.36 2.55 2.53 2.53
64.73 112.6 176.07 176.87 213.4 196.46 204.80b 181.8 2.33 2.3 2.30ab 2.27 2.42 2.56 2.54 2.55
64.06 110.73 149.33 184.56 189.77 179.27 170.07a 171.67 2.34 2.32 2.30ab 2.27 2.43 2.52 2.53 2.55
1.28 2.01 5.81 4.85 5.43 6.18 6.67 6.83 0.06 0.05 0.04 0.07 0.03 0.07 0.03 0.04
NS NS NS NS NS NS P<0.01 NS NS NS P<0.05 NS NS NS NS NS

Means bearing different superscripts within a column differ significantly (P<0.01); NS: Non significant (P>0.05) SEM: Standard error of means

There was no significant difference in the weekly FCR of the chicks during the course of the experiment except 3rd week, where in FCR was found significantly better (P<0.05) in T1, T3 and T4 than T2 (Table 1). Similar observations were also reported by Wang et al. (2003). Uyanik et al. (2002) reported that chromium supplementation as chromium chloride at 20 ppm level caused significant reduction in feed intake and improved feed efficiency without affecting weight gain in broilers. Rao et al. (2012) also reported that the dietary supplementation of organic chromium in commercial broiler chickens has no effect on body mass gain. Rajalekshmi et al. (2014) also reported that there was no significant effect of supplementation of chromium propionate at different dosage levels in male broiler chickens (Cobb, 400) on weight gain during the whole study period of 42 days.

Humoral Immune Response and Cell Mediated Immune Response

There was no significant difference among the various treatment groups but the response to 1% SRBC (log2 titre) was apparently better in T3 as compared to the other treatment groups. No significant difference was recorded in the response to PHA-P among the various treatment groups. However, cell mediated immune response to PHA-P was numerically better in T3 as compared to the other treatment groups (Table 2). Similar findings were observed by Uyanik et al. (2002), who observed increased IgM along with an increase in the Cell-Mediated Immunity (CMI) to phytohemagglutinin (PHA). An improved Hypersensitivity (CBH response test to PHA-P) was observed in broilers reared under heat stress, the organic form of chromium was found to be better in reducing heat stress-related immunodepression in broiler chicks (Ghazi et al., 2012).

Table 2: Effect of dietary supplementation of graded levels of chromium picolinate on the humoral immune responses [antibody titer (log 2) values] to 1% SRBC and cell mediated immune response (response to PHA-P) (Foot web index) of coloured chicken at 6 weeks of age

Treatment HA IgG IgM Foot web index
T1 6.50 1.50 5.00 0.46
T2 7.00 1.43 5.57 0.41
T3 7.86 1.86 6.00 0.54
T4 7.13 1.63 5.50 0.51
Pooled SEM 0.23 0.11 0.20 0.04
Sig Level NS NS NS NS

NS: Non significant (P<0.05) SEM: Standard error of means

Development of Digestive Organs and Carcass Quality Traits

No significant differences were found in gastrointestinal tract development traits except lowest weight for large intestine was found for cp1600 ppb (Table 3).

Table 3: Effect of dietary supplementation of graded levels of chromium picolinate on the development of digestive organs of coloured chicken at 8 weeks of age

Treatment Proventriculus weight

(g/ 100 g)

Small intestine length (cm/100g) Small intestine weight (g/100 g) Large intestine length (cm/100 g) Large intestine weight (g/100 g) Average caecal length (cm/100 g) Caecal weight (g/100 g)
T1 0.45 8.26 2.90 0.50 0.21b 0.93 0.55
T2 0.45 8.60 3.18 0.53 0.17b 0.89 0.54
T3 0.43 8.70 2.97 0.47 0.17b 1.01 0.51
T4 0.45 8.99 3.26 0.35 0.09a 0.99 0.56
Pooled SEM 0.02 0.31 0.11 0.03 0.02 0.03 0.03
Sig Level NS NS NS NS P<0.05 NS NS

Means bearing different superscripts within a column differ significantly (P<0.05); NS: Non significant (P>0.05) SEM: Standard error of means

There was no significant difference among the treatment groups in the carcass quality traits viz. percent processing shrinkage, dressing percentage, per cent eviscerated weight, per cent heart weight, per cent liver weight and per cent gizzard weight (Table 4). There were no significant differences in the cut-up-parts such as thigh, drumstick, breast, back and neck among the treatment groups (Table 4). The findings of experiment corroborate well with the findings of Chaudhari et al. (2006), who tested the effects of chromium picolinate supplementation in broilers and found non-consistent effect on gizzard and heart weights.

Table 4: Effect of dietary supplementation of graded levels of chromium picolinate on carcass quality characteristics and cut up-parts of coloured chicken at 8 weeks of age

Treatment Shrinkage (%) Dressing (%) Eviscerated weight (%) Heart weight (%) Liver weight (%) Gizzard weight (%) Thighs (%) Drumstick (%) Breast (%) Back (%) Neck (%) Wings (%)
T1 3.41 71.03 62.29 0.4 1.72 2.14 16.99 16.13 27.53 23.54 5.36 10.45a
T2 3.7 78.32 63.05 0.49 1.95 1.81 16.73 16.23 28.07 23.93 4.44 10.60ab
T3 3.7 83.38 61.07 0.57 1.81 2.01 16.56 16.77 27.49 24.22 3.18 11.80c
T4 3.27 72.3 65.52 0.34 1.59 1.66 16.32 16.3 26.4 22.18 4.16 11.41bc
Pooled SEM 0.16 2.56 0.88 0.04 0.14 0.18 0.28 0.21 0.5 0.45 0.34 0.19
Sig Level NS NS NS NS NS NS NS NS NS NS NS P<0.01

Means bearing different superscripts within a column differ significantly (P<0.01); NS: Non significant (P>0.05) SEM: Standard error of means

Rao et al. (2012) reported that the dietary supplementation of organic chromium in commercial broiler chickens had no effect on relative mass of liver, abdominal fat and ready to cook yields at 42 days of age.

Conclusion

It may be concluded that supplementation of chromium picolinate at the level of 800 ppb revealed no adverse effect on body weight gain and resulted in higher humoral and cell mediated immune responses in coloured chicken.

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to Vice Chancellor, DUVASU, Mathura for providing the necessary facilities for carrying out this study.

References

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