Effect of Cage and Floor Litter Environment on the Blood Profiles of Broiler Chickens Reared in Derived Savanna Zone of Nigeria

Amao Shola Rasheed

doi:7070232

The current study evaluate the effect of cage and floor litter environment on the haematological and serological indices of broiler chickens consisting of 100 Ross and Anak strain of broiler chicks each in a completely randomly design. The blood samples were collected at three intervals of 6, 8 and 10^th week of age. Data were collected on haematological and serological indices of both strains in the two different environments. Haematological indices including Red blood cell (RBC), Packed cell volume (PCV), haemoglobin (Hb), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration and (erythrocytic values). White blood cells (WBC), heterophils (H), Lymphocytes (L), Heterophils: Lymphocytes (H/L) monocytes (M) Eosinophils (E) and Basophils (B) as Leukocytic indices. Regardless to the strains-cage environment, higher significant (P < 0.05) effects on RBC, WBC, PCV, H, L, H/L, E, PCV, MCV and ESR counts while floor litter shows significant (P < 0.05) effects for both strains for Hb and MCH, while no significant (P > 0.05) responses were observed for MCHC and monocyte. The serological indices determined were serum total protein (TP) serum albumin (SA), serum globulin (SG), Uric acid (UA) serum glucose (SGL), Creatine (C), Serum aspertate amino transferase, (SAST), total cholesterol (TC) and Serum alanine amino transferase (SALT). Caged birds showed significant (P < 0.05) different values in TP, SA, SG, SALT, SAST and TC than their counterpart on the floor litter environment while higher significant (P < 0.05) values were obtained for creatine and Uric acid. The study concluded higher H:L value which is an indicator of stress in the cage environment and improvement in the floor system could result into better health improvement of birds. The results could be a baseline for breeding programme in this environment.

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