Abstract:

【OBJECTIVE】The experiment was conducted to study the effect of two different chromium sources (CrY and CrNic) on production and slaughter performance in heat stressed broilers.【METHOD】One hundred and eighty Arbor Acres (AA) broilers at the age of 15day were selected and divided into three treatments with six replicates of ten chicks in each replicate. Three treatments were supplemented 0(control group)、3 mg/kg chromium (CrY) and 3 mg/kg chromium (CrNic). The experiment lasted four weeks.【RESULTS】It was concluded that supplemental Cr 3.0 mg/kg influenced significantly on daily gain, feed consumption, feed/gain of 15~28、29~42 day(P<0.05 ). On the 28th and 42th day, 18 broilers in each group were selected randomly and slaughtered, and the slaughter performances were determined. The results showed that CrY or CrNic did not influence significantly on dressing percentage, percentage of semi-eviscerated yield and eviscerated yield at 28 d (P>0.05), but the abdominal fat percentage of experimental groups were lower than the control group significantly (P<0.05). At 42 day, the experimental groups did not influence significantly on percentage of semi-eviscerated yield and eviscerated yield(P>0.05), but the abdominal fat percentage of experimental groups were lower than the control group significantly(P<0.05), and dressing percentage were higher than control group significantly(P<0.05), there was no significant difference between experimental groups (P>0.05).【CONCLUSION】It was concluded that the CrY and the CrNic could improve the production and slaughter performance of the heat stressed broilers, but it was no significant difference between the two chromium sources.