Overall Performance, Carcass Yield, Meat Safety Potentials and Economic Value of Heat-Stressed Broilers Fed Diets with Balanced Electrolytes

Abstract

Tropical regions across the globe are characterized by an annually prolonged hot weather conditions that showcase limiting production efficiency in livestock industry, as domesticated animals leave the zone of maximum comfort, under heat stress, with death and reduced carcass yield accompanying the subsequent alteration in body chemistry and behavior. However, pen house orientation, cooling systems, genetic modification and different dietary manipulations have been employed in poultry industry, but many of such did not account for the body’s acid-base equilibrium and the potentials of aggregate levels of dietary electrolytes in enhancing carcass yield of broilers under severe heat stress conditions. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the effects of different electrolyte-balanced diets on overall performance, carcass yield, meat safety potentials and economic value of heat-stressed broilers reared for five weeks. Arbor Acre broiler chicks (n = 300) were randomly allotted to diets with aggregate electrolyte balance of 210 (T1), 240 (T2), 270 (T3), 300 (T4), 330 (T5) and 360 (T6) mEq/Kg, in a completely randomised design. On day 35, birds whose weights were closest to the mean class weight were selected from each replicate pen for carcass yield assessment. Also, data on performance and cost-benefit analysis were analysed using descriptive statistics and ANOVA at <i> α </i> = 0.05. Electrolyte-balanced diets though contained salts that presumably could have improved satiety, yet they do not enhance appetite in heat-stressed broilers. However, dietary protein efficiency was enhanced at an electrolyte balance levels of 240 and 270 mEq/k g, which translated into increased body weight gain. Weights of primal parts of birds on 270 mEq/kg DEB were highest at 35 days. Feed cost values (per kilogram weight gain) of rations with 240 mEq/kg and 270 mEq/kg DEB were lower and showcased promising economic buoyancy to both rural and commercial poultry farmers, while ensuring a high food safety standard under tropical conditions.