The Performance and Haematological Indices of Broiler Chickens Fed Chromium Picolinate, and Vitamin C Supplemented Diets

Aims: This study investigates the out-turn of ChromiumPicolinate (CrPic) and vitamin C dietary supplementation on the performance characteristics and haematological indices of broiler chickens.

Study Design: The completely randomised design was used for this study.

Methodology: Six hundred and forty day-old Cobb 500 broiler chickens were randomly assigned to eight dietary treatments (10 birds/replicate). A basal diet was fractionated into eight equal parts and labelled diets 1 to 8. Diets 1 to 4 were supplemented with 0, 0.4, 0.8 and 1.2 mg/kg CrPic, respectively. The diets 5 to 8 were supplemented with 200 mg/kg vitamin C; 0.4 mg CrPic+200 mg vitamin C; 0.8 mg CrPic+200 mg vitamin C and 1.2 mg CrPic+200 mg Vitamin C, respectively.

Results: The final body weight (FBW) and relative growth rate (RGR) of the birds fed diets 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8 were significantly (P<0.05) higher to those fed the control diet and diet 4. The CrPic supplementation at 0.4 and 0.8 mg/kg levels improved (P<0.05) the FBW and RGR of the birds, compared to the control. The vitamin c supplementation (200mg/kg) improved (P<0.05) the FBW and RGR of the birds. The haematological indices were stable (P>0.05) across the diets. However, the granulocytes count increased by the CrPic supplementations, compared to the control while lymphocytes count increased (P<0.05) by vitamin C supplementation.

Conclusion: The growth of the broiler chicken are enhanced by 0.4 to 0.8 mg/kg CrPic, 200 mg/kg vitamin C and combination of CrPic and vitamin C dietary supplementations without affecting main haematological indices of the birds.