Development of climate resilient practices to enhance tolerance to heat stress in commercial and backyard poultry

Series of experiments were conducted both on broilers and layer chicken to ameliorate heat stress during summer season. Supplementation of customized electrolyte mixtures (Heat Care) or fortification ofpractical poultry diets with organic mineral mixture (Red-Ox) showed phenomenal improvement in performance and reduction in stress indices in commercial broilers reared during summer season. Fortification of broiler diet with organic form of Zn (20-40 ppm), Cr (1-2 ppm) and or Se (0.15 to 0.30 ppm) significantly improved weight gain (4.5%) and feed efficiency (2.5%) in broilers. Similarly, supplementation of Heat Care (potassium chloride, sodium citrate, sodium di-hydrogen phosphate, di-sodium hydrogen phosphate and sodium bicarbonate mixture) at the rate of 21g/liter drinking water significantly improved the broiler performance. Heat stress alleviated summer stress by promoting water consumption and replacement of electrolytes loss in chicken reared during heat stress conditions. The body weight gain was improved by 3.10 % and the feed cost (per kg live weight gain) was lowered by 6.2 %. Supplementation of Heat Care or Red-Ox considerably minimized mortality of the birds, which was attributed due to reduction in lipid peroxidation and increase in activity of anti-oxidant enzymes in chicken. Adaptation of these technologies would increase the profit to broiler farmers to the tune of Rs. 24 to 170.5 crores per year from the broiler farming.

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