Effects of diet supplementation by copper sulphate and ginger essential oil on growth performance and plasma biochemical parameters of broiler chickens under high environmental temperature conditions

This study was conducted using 240 day-old female broiler chicks to evaluate the effect of copper sulphate (CuSO4) and ginger essential oil (GEO) on the growth performance and blood biochemical parameters under high environmental temperature conditions. After three weeks of age, the ambient temperature was adjusted to daily fluctuations between 24 degrees C and 38(sic)C, simulating diurnal temperature during heat stress (HS). From day one, all birds were divided into 3 treatments, with 6 replicates of 10 birds each. The birds were fed a corn-soybean meal basal diet (control) or the same diet supplemented with 250 mg/kg GEO (diet GEO) or 200 mg/kg CuSO4 (diet CuSO4). Feeding diet GEO decreased (P = 0.003) average daily gain (ADG), but increased (P = 0.018) feed conversion ratio (FCR) at 1 -21 day period. However, all diets resulted in no significant change (P > 0.05) in body weight at 42 days and average daily feed intake, ADG and FCR in the second (days 22-42) and the overall (days 1-42) experimental period. The use of CuSO4 enhanced (P < 0.05) the plasma albumin and Cu concentrations, but decreased (P = 0.005) blood uric acid level compared to the control diet. Dietary GEO also decreased (P < 0.01) the plasma cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations. Both supplementation of CuSO4 and GEO reduced (P = 0.023) low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P = 0.026) when compared to the control group. In contrast, no diets affected (P > 0.05) the values of plasma total protein and globulin. In conclusion, under high temperature conditions, there was no significant influence of CuSO4 and GEO supplementation on productive performance; plasma LDL-C and uric acid concentrations were decreased by CuSO4 supplementation, while plasma lipid profile was improved by GEO supplementation.