Nutritional strategies for broiler chickens under natural of heat stress conditions

Félix Airahuacho B.; Juan Álvaro C.; Frank Valerio M.; Jorge Cabello T.; Hilario Pujada A. · Revista de Investigaciones Veterinarias del Peru (2026) · DOI: 10.15381/rivep.v36i6.30000

Resumen

The effect of using oil, vitamin C, and sodium bicarbonate as nutritional strategies to address the physiological challenges faced by broiler chickens during summer heat stress was evaluated. Diets were formulated based on corn and soybean oil (T0), soybean oil (T1), supplemented with vitamin C (T2), sodium bicarbonate (T3), or oil, vitamin C, and sodium bicarbonate (T4). Fourteen-day-old broilers were distributed in groups of 5 birds with 6 replicates per treatment. Vitamin C was supplemented at 150 mg per kg of feed, and sodium bicarbonate was supplemented up to 280 mEq/kg. The air temperature and relative humidity were 27.3 ± 0.5 °C and 85.4 ± 1.5%, respectively. Greater body weights were achieved with diets from T4 to 36 days (p<0.01), but the best weight gain between 30 and 36 days was achieved with T1 (p<0.05). Feed intake and feed conversion, as well as meat indicators (breast, heart and abdominal fat yield) were not affected by the treatments (p>0.05), except for the relative liver weight (increased in T3 and decreased in T2 [p<0.01], respectively). The results suggest a protective effect of vitamin C on liver integrity, which, when complemented with sodium bicarbonate and the use of oil, would alleviate the negative effects of heat stress on the productive performance of broiler chickens.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional José Faustino Sánchez Carrión