Blood Viscosity and Osmotic Fragility of Two Breeds of Chickens Fed Dietary Supplementation of Acetylsalicylic Acid (ASA)

Abstract

This experiment was performed to determine the effect of feeding varying levels of dietary acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) on the osmotic fragility and blood viscosity of two strains of layers. Four experimental diets designated as: T1 (control diet with 0.0% ASA), T2 (diet with 0.25% ASA), T3 (diet with 0.50% ASA) and T4 (diet with 0.75% ASA) were fed to one hundred and ninety two layers of two different breeds - Harco Black (HB) and Isa Brown (IB) layers which were grouped into forty-eight birds per treatment, replicated four times at twelve birds per replicate. Blood samples were collected and analyzed at the end of the experiment to ascertain the effect of dietary acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) on red blood cell osmotic stability and viscosity of whole blood, serum and plasma. The result on osmotic fragility showed that there were significant differences (p<0.05) between the two breeds of layers, among the four treatments and in the interaction between the breeds and the treatments. Isa Brown layers were more osmotically stable than Harco Black layers at all levels of saline concentrations. Also, 0.075% ASA supplementation significantly improved the red blood osmotic stability beyond 0.30% saline concentration. The blood thinning effect of ASA was most beneficial at 0.050% level. It can be concluded that increase in the dietary ASA up to 0.75% level had significant effect on the two breeds of commercial breeding layers as far as their red blood cell stability is concerned.