Influence of feeding acidified sodium chlorite treated feed with or without supplemental vitamin E on performance of broiler chickens

In the present experiment, effect of feeding ASC and vitamin E treated feed to broiler chicken on performance, meat quality and immune competence was evaluated. The dietary treatments were formulated using three levels of vitamin E (0, 30 and 50 mg/kg) in a basal diet previously treated with three levels of ASC (0, 100 and 250 ppm) in 3 x 3 factorial design. Day-old broiler chicks (n=288) were divided into 36 groups of 8 chicks each and each dietary treatment was offered to 4 replicated groups. The birds were weighed weekly and at the end of 42^nd day of age, six birds from each treatment were sacrificed to study various parameters. Results indicated that ASC treatment and vitamin E supplementation in diet did not produce significant influence on live weight/weight gain. Feed intake and feed conversion ratio values were almost comparable. In case of meat quality, estimated in terms of Thio-barbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) level, in breast meat samples 1, 10 and 20 days post sacrifice, ASC treatment increased the TBARS values while vitamin E supplementation produced significant (P<0.001) reduction. TBARS value of the meat samples also increased with storage time. The pH and water holding capacity of meat was not altered by any treatment. In case of immune competence, Vitamin E supplementation significantly (P<0.001) improved the cell mediated immunity. From this study it may be concluded that feeding either ASC or Vitamin E treated feed though did not influence broiler performance but use of ASC deteriorated the oxidative stability while Vitamin E supplementation improved the immune competence as well as the oxidative stability of broiler meat.