Article
Nutritional management of heat stress in broilers Sandeep Uniyal, Amit Sharma and Udeybir Singh Chahal Department of Animal Nutrition Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana-141001
Introduction Indian poultry sector have grown enormously in past few decade from traditional backward to modern highly intensified poultry production system. The Indian poultry sector now has grown to 120,000 Cr industry which in itself largest among the agriculture sector and contributing nearly 5 % in the GDP from agriculture sector. India is second and third largest producer of egg and poultry meat respectively, which is a good sign to Indian poultry industry but there are certain factors which are obstacle in expression of full potential of Indian poultry industry one of them is environmental stress particularly heat stress. The environmental temperature start increasing from March till the start of monsoon in most of the part of India and may reaches above 500C in certain parts. So, it becomes very difficult for the poultry birds to cope up with these hot weather conditions which adversely affects the feed intake and performance of birds in terms of weight gain and feed conversion ratio. It also leads to reduced nutrient utilization and immune suppression in the broilers birds so, it is at most important to take necessary measures to prevent heat stress in broiler birds.
26
Nutritional management of heat stress involves various approaches like form of feed and feeding method, time of feeding, energy and protein level of the feed, electrolyte balance, vitamins and minerals level in feed and water and dietary feed additives 1. Forms of feed and feeding method: Feed forms (crumb, pellets, or mash) plays important role in minimizing heat stress in the birds. It has been observed that feeding broiler pelleted feed with minimum amount of fines reduces heat stress in birds by minimizing the proportion of energy wasted in acquiring the feed and also save the time (1/3rd) in feeding as compared to mesh. Pelleted feed also improve fed intake (upto 14 %) and digestibility in heated stressed birds. Reduced fine by 10 % of feed in summer gives better performance by improving FCR by 0.01, since energy spent for feeding is less. 2. Time of feeding: Timing of the feeding plays important role in alleviating heat stress in broiler. Production of heat by the broiler can be reduced by feeding them during cooler hours of the day i.e early in the morning and late in the evening this will reduce heat
www.pixie.co.in
stress induced mortality by minimizing heat increment due to feeding during hotter part of the day. 3. Energy density of the diet: The energy level of the diet should be increased to cope up the reduced body weight as a consequence of lower feed intake in the birds under heat stressed condition this can be done by adding fat in the diet which increases energy density of diet and also reduces heat production in the birds as fat has lower heat increment then protein and carbohydrates. It has been reported that feeding high fat diets (5%) helped in reducing the detrimental effect of heat stress in broilers raised at 2936°C. 4. Level of protein and amino acids in diet: level of protein in the diet of broiler during heat stress should be monitored to combat adverse effect so, a nutritional balanced diet with low level of protein with additional supplementation of limiting amino acids minimizes the energy loss from excreting surplus nitrogen and might therefore help the chicken to cope with heat stress. High protein diet during heat stress decrease growth rate and meat
Poultry Planner | Vol. 23 | No.05 | May - 2021
