Chromium Supplementation Can Alleviate the Negative Effects of Heat Stress on Growth Performance, Carcass Traits, and Meat Lipid Oxidation of Broiler Chicks without Any Adverse Impacts on Blood Constituents

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the effects of dietary supplementation with Cr nicotinate and Cr chloride and their optimum inclusion rate on performance, carcass traits, meat oxidative stability, serum metabolites, hematological parameters, and liver chromium concentration in heat-stressed broilers. A total number of 420, 1-day-old male broiler chicks were randomly assigned to seven treatments with four replicates of 15 chicks. The dietary treatments consisted of the basal diet supplemented with 0 (control), 500, 1,000, and 1,500 μg/kg Cr in the form of Cr nicotinate and Cr chloride. Chicks were raised for 6 weeks in heat stress condition (33 ± 2°C). Supplements of organic and inorganic Cr particularly at 1,500 μg/kg incorporation increased feed consumption (P < 0.05) and body mass gain of broilers (P < 0.01). Cr supplementation increased carcass yield and decreased abdominal fat (P < 0.01). Supplementation of 1,500 μg/kg Cr nicotinate (P < 0.05) enhanced liver Cr concentration. Storage time increased lipid oxidation of meat (P < 0.01). Cr decreased lipid oxidation of breast and thigh muscles over 2 (P < 0.01) or 6 (P < 0.05) days of storage time. Birds fed 1,500 μg/kg Cr nicotinate, had lower concentration of serum glucose and triglyceride at 21 days (P < 0.05). Hematological parameters tested at 21 and 42 days, were not influenced. The results suggested that dietary Cr supplementation regardless of its source have a positive effect on productive, and carcass traits, also enhances oxidative stability of refrigerated meat in broilers reared under heat stress conditions.

Effects of Chromium Picolinate Supplementation on Growth Performance, Small Intestine Morphology and Antioxidant Status in Ducks Under Heat Stress Conditions

“…Similar observations have been demonstrated in previous studies examining the influence of Cr under heat stress conditions (Samanta et al, 2008;Toghyani et al, 2012). Several researches on broilers revealed improvement in weight gain and feed conversion with Cr supplementation under conditions of induced stress (Huang et al).…”

“…It has been recognized that Cr is an essential trace element for human and the National Academy of Science (NRC 2002) has established a daily adequate intake (AI) of 35 and 25 mg/day of trivalent Cr for adult male and females, respectively. What's more, previous studies involving broilers fed supplemental Cr have shown a positive effect on growth performance, carcass traits, and antioxidant capacity when under heat stress conditions (Toghyani et al, 2012;Huang et al, 2016). Immunological function has also been enhanced by trivalent Cr, and its effects seem to be more pronounced during times of stress (Wang et al, 2007;Lien et al, 2014).…”

Effects of Dietary Chromium Methionine on Growth Performance, Carcass Composition, Meat Colour and Expression of the Colour-related Gene Myoglobin of Growing-finishing Pigs

“…Also, Cr supplementation benefited the immune response in weaned pigs following an LPS-induced stress by up-regulating IgG and γ-globulin levels (Lien et al, 2005). In broiler chicks, Cr supplementation can improve growth performance, carcass traits and meat lipid oxidation through alleviating the negative effects of heat stress (Toghyani et al, 2012). Stresses impaired immune function and thereby resulting in a reduction of feed intake and growth rate in weaning pigs (Van Heugten et al, 1996; Oh et al, 2010).…”

Nutritional Interventions to Alleviate the Negative Consequences of Heat Stress

“…For instance, supplementing heat-stressed earlylactation dairy cows with chromium reduced the degree of weight loss, improved milk production, reduced plasma NEFA concentrations, and improved rebreeding rates (167,168). In addition, broilers supplemented with dietary chromium and raised in heat-stress conditions had increased feed consumption, body weight gain, and carcass composition traits compared with nonsupplemented birds (169,170). Limited research has been done on other species, but in heat-stressed swine, chromium supplementation did not improve the average daily gain or plasma glucose (171).…”