Effect of nitroglycerin slow release drug on performance, blood and hormonal parameters of broiler chicks under ascites induction conditions

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of addition of a nitroglycerin (NG) slow release drug on performance, blood and hormonal parameters of broiler chicks under ascites induction conditions. A total of 500 broiler chicks at 7 days of age were used in a completely randomized design with 5 treatments, 5 replicates and 20 chicks per each replication. The experimental treatments included: 1) positive control group (without induction of ascites and without addition of NG); 2) negative control group (induction of ascites without adding NG, treatments 3, 4 and 5, including induction of ascites with 5, 10 and 20 mg/kg NG in diet, respectively. In order to induce cold stress, the temperature was fixed at 15oC from 15 until 42 day of age. The results showed that the feed intake and body weight were not affected by experimental treatments in the growth and finisher period, but the use of nitroglycerin (20 mg / kg) resulted in a significant improvement in the feed conversion ratio (FCR) during the finisher and the whole period. Efficiency of energy and protein consumption as well as production index significantly improved with consumption of 20 mg NG compared to negative control group, which was comparable to that of control group. The concentration of blood glucose was significantly increased as a result of stress. The levels of T3 and T3 / T4 ratios increased by stress and decreased by using NG.