The impact of dietary supplementation with copper nanoparticle, nitrate, and copper sulphate on productive performance, hematological indicators and antioxidant reactivity in broiler chicks

Abstract

The current study examined the effects of dietary copper (Cu) supplementation on productive performance, hematological indicators, immunoglobins, and antioxidant capabilities in broilers. A number of 420, one-day old, broiler chicks (Ross 308) were split up into four groups: the control group (n= 42 chicks) and three experimental groups (n= 126 chicks/ each), based on copper forms copper nitrate (Cu (NO3)2), copper nano-particles (Cu- NPs), and copper sulphate (CuSO4). Depending on copper levels (75, 100, and 125 mg/kg), each main group was split into three subgroups (n= 42 chicks per each level), chicks of each subgroup were divided into three replicates (n= 14 chicks/ each). At the age of 5 th weeks, the selected productive performance traits like body weight (BW), body weight gain (BWG), feed intake (FI), feed conversion ratio (FCR), and mortality rate (MR%) improved considerably (P<0.05) in chicks treated with Cu-NPs at a level of 125 mg/kg diet. also, the interaction among them detected the same trend. Plasma levels of total protein (T.P) and globulin (GL) were increased; plasma levels of total cholesterol (T.Ch), triglycerides (T.G), low density lipoproteins (LDL), aspartate amino transferase (AST), alanine amino transferase (ALT) activity, creatinine (Cr) and uric acid (U.A) decreased in Cu-NPs treatment, while high density lipoproteins (HDL) increased in Cu (NO3)2. Serum immunoglobulins (IgM and IgG) were increased by Cu-NPs, 125 mg/kg and the interaction between them. Feeding diet supplemented with Cu-NPs at a level of 125 mg/kg significantly(P<0.05) improved plasma total antioxidant (TAOC), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and decreased malondialdehyde (MDA) than control and other treatments. As the antibacterial properties results found that all Cu treatments with all additional dose's levels inhibited bacterial proliferation. It could be concluded supplemental Cu-NPS at 125 mg/kg improved broiler growth performance, feed utilization, plasma biochemical markers, immunoglobulins, antioxidant activity, and antibacterial properties.