Effects of diet supplementation with copper sulphate on growth performance and heamatological parameters of broiler chickens

Abstract

Diets of ninety-six day-old Abor-acre chicks were supplemented with different levels of copper sulphate (CuSO4) to assess the growth performance and haematological parameters. The birds were conventionally brooded for two weeks after which they got allotted to; T1 (control), T2 (100 mg CuSO4 kg-1), T3 (200 mg CuSO4 kg-1), and T4 (300 mg CuSO4 kg-1 of diet), in a completely randomized design. Each treatment had three replicates (n = 8). The supplements were given for 49 days during which feed intake and weekly weight gain were recorded. At the 49th day (63 day old), blood was aseptically collected via the wing vein using sterile syringe and needle for haematological studies. All data were subjected to analysis of variance and means separated using Duncan’s New Multiple Range Test. The results showed that T3 had superior (p<0.05) weight gain and best FCR with enhanced feed intake similar (p>0.05) to T1 and T2 but differed (p<0.05) from T4 that had the worst growth performance. PCV, Hb and RBC of treated groups differed (p<0.05) from T1 that recorded the least haematological values. The WBC and its differentials did not statistically differ (p>0.05) except eosinophils where T3 spiked above others though statistically similar to T1 and T4 whereas T2 was the least. It could be concluded that CuSO4 supplementations at 100 and 200 mg kg-1 diets had beneficial effects on growth performance whereas there was no detrimental effect of CuSO4 supplementations on all the haematological parameters of the broilers.