The effect of acetylosalicylic acid and berberis on ascites syndrome parameters in broiler chickens.

Abstract

One-hundred and thirty day-old broiler chickens were kept for 6 days and on the seventh day, 120 chickens were selected and randomly divided into 5 groups with 2 replicates. To cause ascites, an amount of 0.12% sodium was added to the drinking water of 4 groups of chickens. On the fourteenth day, the amount of sodium was increased to 0.24% and at the same time, treatment with acetylosalicylic acid and berberis was started. At the age of 14 and 21 days, random sample chickens from each replicate were necropsied and were examined in terms of the factors associated with ascites. The results showed that the ratio of the weight of the right ventricle (RV) to the weight of the total ventricles (TV) and all other factors on 14th day revealed no significant difference between the groups (p>0.05). On 21st day, the RV/TV ratio in the ascites control group was significantly higher than that in the control group (p<0.05). The RV/TV ratio in the groups receiving acetylosalicylic acid and berberis were lower than those in the ascites control group; however, this reduction was not significant (p>0.05). The rate of mortality in the groups receiving acetylosalicylic acid and berberis was lower than that in ascites control group. Considering the results obtained, it can be suggested that the treatment with acetylosalicylic acid and berberis is effective to prevent ascites.