The effect of lime powder on adverse effects of high salt consumption in broiler chickens

The ascites is a kind of metabolic disorder which occurs in broiler chickens and is controlled by different factors including genetics, environment and the management. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of lime powder in diet on the adverse effects of high salt consumption in broiler chickens. In this study, 90 one-day-old broiler chicks were kept in identical and controlled conditions for 6 days. On the 7th day of age, 80 chicks were selected and divided randomly into 4 groups with two replicates and 10 chicks in each replicate. Then, for the induction of experimental ascites, a volume of 0.12 percent of sodium obtained from edible salt was added to the drinking water of 3 groups of chicks (groups 2, 3 and 4) and the other group (group 1) was considered as the negative control. The lime powder was added with concentrations of 1 and 2 percent to the diet of groups 3 and 4 from the 14th day of age. On the 21 day of age, 2 chicks were selected from each replicate and necropsied in order to evaluate the factors related to ascites syndrome. The amount of sodium was then increased to 0.18 percent in the drinking water of group 2, 3 and 4. On 30th days of age, 4 chicks were randomly selected from each replicate and necropsied to determine the ventricular weights, amount of hematocrit and the skin edema. The results showed that on day 30, the weight of right ventricle (RV) in treatment groups (groups 3 and 4) was significantly lower than the positive control group (group 2) (P=0.004). The occurrence of histopathological lesions in the skin tissues of the lemon treated groups were lower than that of the positive control group. According to the results of this study the use of lime powder in the diet is effective in the recovery of ascites syndrome and decrease the skin edema in broiler chickens.