Chitosan oligosaccharides in the diet of broiler chickens under cold stress had anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effects and improved hematological and biochemical indices, cardiac index, and growth performance

Abstract

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary chitosan oligosaccharide (COS) on broiler chickens under cold stress. A total of 500 one -day-old male broiler chickens were randomly allocated into five treatments with five replicate pens (with 20 broiler chickens per pen). The broiler chickens in thermoneutral treatment (TN control) were reared at normal temperature, while the broiler chickens in other four treatments were subjected to the cold stress (CS) + 0, 1, 2, and 3 g COS/kg. At d 42, two broiler chickens per cage were weighed and euthanized, and samples for blood and heart were collected. Dietary COS improved growth performance indices and reduced relative heart weight, right ventricle to total ventricle ratio, right ventricle to body weight, and mortality (P < 0.01). The activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase in serum and liver were increased, and malondialdehyde was reduced by COS supplementation compared to the CS treatment (P < 0.01). The cold stress-induced effect on serum and liver levels of TNF-α and interleukin-1β were reduced, and interleukin-10 was increased by dietary COS supplementation (P < 0.01). Moreover, supplementing of diets with COS alleviated the adverse effect of cold stress as reflected by a reduction in alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, triglyceride, and cholesterol compared to the CS treatment (P < 0.01). It is also, the red blood cell count, hemoglobin, hematocrit, heterophil, and heterophil to lymphocyte ratio reduced by COS supplementation compared to the CS treatment . In conclusion, COS supplementation during cold stress may be used to alleviate cold stress related changes in broiler chickens.