Effect of Adding Watermelon Juice, Vitamin E-Selenium, and Vitamin C into the Drinking Water on Growth Performance, Internal Organs’ weight and Prececal Nutrient Digestibility in Broilers under Heat Stress

This study investigated the effect of adding watermelon juice, vitamin Eselenium and vitamin C to the drinking water on growth performance, internal organs’ weight, and prececal nutrient digestibility in broilers under heat stress. Two hundred and fifty Hubbard F۱۵ day-old broilers were allocated to five treatments with five replicates of ۱۰ broilers per each replicate, based on a completely randomized design. The birds in the control treatment did not receive any supplement in drinking water and reared in thermoneutral temperature. Birds in the other four treatments received watermelon juice at ۶۰% or ۳۰%, vitamin C at ۵۰ mg/L, or vitamin E-Selenium at ۱ mL/L of drinking water during the heat stress period. Heat stress applied for ۹ hours from day ۱۲ onward. Results indicated birds that received ۶۰% watermelon juice had similar body weight and feed intake compared to control birds. The relative weight of proventriculus, intestine length, and prececal dry matter nutrient digestibility was significantly higher in ۶۰% watermelon juice treatment than other treatments. It is concluded that watermelon juice supplementation at ۶۰% concentration into the drinking water could improve the performance of birds reared under heat stress as a result of restoring water and feed intake and also better prececal dry matter digestibility.

Keywords:

Vitamin C , Heat stress , Watermelon juice , Prececal digestibility , Vitamin E_Selenium