Efficacy of herbal and synthetic ascorbic acid supplementation in broiler chicks during heat stress

An experiment was conducted on day-old Vencob commercial broiler chicks (240) during hot humid condition up to 42 days of age to compare the effects of a commercial herbal preparation (Herbal-C) with synthetic ascorbic acid as antioxidant feed supplements on growth performance and antioxidant status. The chicks randomly divided into 3 equal groups (2 replicates of 40 chicks each with equal sex ratio) were offered either the corn-soya based starter/finisher control (C) ration, C supplemented @ 100 mg/kg either with Herbal-C (HC) or coated synthetic ascorbic acid (SC). The body weight was higher and FCR was lower (P<0.05) in HC and SC groups than C, but there was no difference between HC and SC. The HC and SC supplemented chicks had higher level of ascorbic acid in plasma and liver tissue as compared to C. The level of erythrocytic lipid peroxidation was higher (P<0.05) in C group followed by HC and SC groups, respectively. The results indicated that herbal as well as synthetic vitamin C sources were equally effective in reducing the heat related oxidative stress in growing broiler and helped in maintaining better growth rate and feed efficiency during summer stress.