GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND SEMEN CHARACTERISTICS OF MARSHALL BROILER BREEDER COCKS FED VARIED LEVELS OF SUPPLEMENTAL ACETYLSALICYLIC ACID AND DIETARY SALT INCLUSIONS

Abstract

The growth performance and acrosome integrity of Marshall Broiler breeder cocks fed varied supplemental levels of acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) and dietary salt inclusion were investigated in a sixteen-week study. A total of twenty broiler breeder cocks (Marshall Breed) were used for the study. 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). A sixteen-week data on growth performance parameters were recorded and acrosome integrity testwas also recorded at the 35th week. The result for the performance did not show any significant difference among initial weight, final weight, weight change, total feed intake and liveability, however, there was a significant difference (P<0.05) in the feed conversion ratio with birds fed diet T3 (11.66 ± 1.12) having the best conversion. The acrosome integrity parameters were significant (P>0.05) with diet T4 having the highest percentage of acrosome integrity (78.50 ± 5.58%) while T3 was highest in live sperm cells (87.00 ± 0.71%) and lowest in dead sperm cells (13.00 ± 0.71%). In conclusion, 0.75% NaCl and 0.050% ASA worked synergistically to improve the feed conversion ratio and sperm cells viability while 1.00% NaCl and 0.075% ASA improved the acrosome integrity of the breeder cocks according to this current study.