EFFECTS OF DIETARY SUPPLEMENTATIONS OF ACETYLSALICYLIC ACID AND SALT ON SERUM BIOCHEMISTRY AND EXPRESSION OF SELECTED CYTOKINES IN BROILER BREEDER COCKS

Abstract

Heat stress is an environmental stressor limiting the performance and production of poultry birds. This study therefore, carried out to investigate optimum combination of aspirin (ASA) and salt (NaCl) that will combat heat stress in Marshall Breeder cock and synergistically improve serum biochemistry and suppress the expression of cytokines. Sixteen Marshall breeder cocks were used in this experiment. Four diets were formulated and labelled T₁ (the control 0.25% NaCl and 0.00% ASA), T₂ (0.50% NaCl and 0.025% ASA), T₃ (0.75% NaCl and 0.050% ASA) and T₄ (1.00% NaCl and 0.075% ASA). The cocks were randomly distributed into four treatment diets with four replicates in each treatment and fed for 16 weeks. Total protein (7.91 ± 1.11mg/dL), globulin (3.40 ± 1.12mgldL) and creatinine (451.69 ± 50.76mg/dL) were significantly (P<0.05) higher in the control diet while diet T₄ had the highest percentage of albumin (4.90 ± 0.06mg/dL) and aspartate aminotransferase (67.70 ± 7.66mg/dL). T3 (178.5) and T₄ (230) had the lowest expression of tumour necrosis factor alpha gene in the liver and heart respectively while the control diet T₁ (244.5) and T₄ (155) had lowest expression of interleukin-1gene in the liver and heart respectively. In conclusion, 0.750% NaCl worked synergistically with 0.050% ASA to suppress the expression of tumour necrosis factor alpha gene in the liver while 1.00% NaCl with 0.0750% ASA could be used to reduce urea concentration in the blood and also suppress the expression of tumour necrosis factor alpha gene and interleukin-1 gene in the heart of breeder cocks.