HAEMATOLOGICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL RESPONSES OF TWO STRAINS OF COMMERCIAL LAYERS FED VARYING DIETARY LEVELS OF ACETYLSALICYLIC ACID

Abstract

The effects of varying levels of acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) on haematological and biochemical parameters in laying bird were investigated. Four standard layers diets were formulated into which ASA was included at 0.00%, 0.025%, 0.050% and 0.075% of the diets in which 0.00% of ASA served as control diet. One hundred and ninety-two layers comprising 96 Isa Brown (1B) and 96 Harco Black (HB) were allotted randomly into the four treatment diets at 48 birds per treatment. replicated four times at 12 birds per replicate. The birds were with these diets for the entire 16 weeks of the experiment. Blood samples were taken from the birds at the end of the experiment to determine the haematological and biochemical responses of the birds to the treatment diets. Results showed that there were significant breed differences in ESR, Hb, RBC and PC V between the 1B and 1 1B breed. The 1B breed had higher (P<O.05) Hb (7.86±0.14g/l00ml versus 7.36±0.20g/100ml), RBC (2.27±0.17x10⁶mm versus 1.97±0.11 x 10⁶mm) and PVC (23.61±0.41% versus 22.09±0.61%) than the Harco Black (HB) breed which had higher ESR (4.60±0.40mm/hr versus 3.22±0.34mm/hr) than the IB breed. The treatment levels of ASA did not have significant effects on all haematological variables but there were significant effects on the heterophil and monocyte component of the EBC when breed and treatment levels were considered together. There were breed differences in the albumin and globulin levels. The HB breed had higher serum albumin while the IB breed had higher globulin level. The use of ASA in the diet significantly lowered the serum cholesterol level from 117.69mg/dL in treatment 1 to 85.39mg/dL in treatment 4. ASA also lower serum Alkaline Phosphatase from 96.041U/L in treatment 1 to 79.021U/L in treatment 4. The interactions between breed and ASA levels significant differences in all biochemical parameters measured. The common trend of event was an increase in total protein, AST, ALT and Creatinine and a decrease in serum cholesterol and ALP in both the IB and HB breeds as the levels of ASA increased in the diets. It can be concluded that IB had higher Hb, RBC and PC V than the HB breed. The use of ASA in the feed at the levels used in this study did not have any significantly effect on the haematological parameters but ASA had a better ameliorative action on the heterophil content of the 1B than on the HB breed. Also. IB had higher serum globulin levels than the HB breed. The use of ASA lowered the serum cholesterol and ALP levels in the birds.