Effect of citric acid and microbial phytase on serum enzyme activities and plasma minerals retention in broiler chicks

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of microbial phytase supplementation and citric acidin broiler chicks fed corn-soybean meal base diets on enzyme activities and some blood parameters ofserum and plasma minerals concentration in Ross 308 strain broilers. The data was analysed using arandomized complete block design with factorial arrangement of 3×3, three levels of citric acids (0, 3and 6%) and three levels of phytase (0, 500 and 1000 enzyme unit per kg). There were three replicatesfor each treatment that total to 270 chicks for the whole experiment. The results indicated that additionof citric acid to diets caused significant decrease in alkaline phosphatase (P<0.05), lactatedehydrogenase (P<0.01) activities, cholesterol (P<0.05) and plasma phosphorus (P) (P<0.01) and Fe(P<0.05) concentrations. Microbial phytase caused significant decrease (P<0.01) in serum enzymeactivities and plasma Fe concentration and significantly increased (P<0.01) aspartate aminotransferaseactivity, triglyceride and plasma P concentration. Microbial phytase and citric acid could modify someserum enzyme activities and increase the availability and use of minerals for growth and performanceimprovement of broilers. It is therefore necessary to re-evaluate mineral requirements of broilerchickens when a diet is supplemented with phytase and citric acid. © 2011 Academic Journals.