الفهرس 
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Abstract
Two experiments were conducted to study the effect of drinking water nitrate on performance of fowl.
Five hundred seventy six, day-old Arbor Acres broiler breeder chicks were used for the first experiment, chicks were completely and randomly divided into six groups, each group was presented by 4 replicates of 17 female and 7 male chicks. The six groups of chicks were assigned to receive one of six water treatments, factorial arrangement of treatments was applied with 3 levels of drinking water nitrate (0, 30, and 60 ppm) as sodium nitrate, and 2 levels of ammonia (0, 10 ppm) as ammonium citrate. Main effects for drinking water nitrate and ammonia, and interactive effects with each other and with other factors, on performance parameters, were studied.
♦ Main effects for drinking water nitrate on performance parameters of broiler breeder hens:
•A significant DROP in daily water consumption was reported for-drinking water nitrate, on the other hand a significant increase in hen-day egg production percent was reported for the increased level of drinking water nitrate.
•Non of the following performance parameters was found to be significantly altered by drinking water nitrate:
Overall body weight of the breeder flock, age and weight of hens at first egg production, total number of eggs per hen, both percentages of fertility and hatchability, nitrate was also found to have no significant effect on percentages of either dead embryos or pipped eggs. •Differential leukocytic counts of broiler breeder hens reported inconsistent changes with different levels of drinking water nitrate, a significant increase in percentage of heterophils was reported for the group of birds, which received 30 ppm drinking water nitrate compared to their counterparts with either 0 or 60 ppm nitrate.
♦Main effects for drinking water ammonia on performance parameters of broiler breeder hens:
•Addition of 10-ppm ammonia to drinking water was found to significantly increase hatchability percent, and it was also found to increase both heterophil percent and H:L ratio. On the other hand drinking water ammonia decreased age of hens at first production, percentage of dead embryos, and lymphocyte percent.
•No significant effects were detected for drinking water ammonia on any of the following parameters:
Overall bodyweight of the flock, daily water consumption, weight of hens at first production, eggs/hen, hen-day egg production, fertility percent, percentage of clear eggs, and percentage of pipped eggs.
♦Significant interactive effects for drinking water nitrate and/ or ammonia on performance parameters of broiler breeder hens:
•A significant interactive effect for nitratex sex of birds was reported on body weight.
•Significant interactive effects were reported for nitratex ammonia on age of hen at first production, percentages of clear eggs, and both fertility and hatchability percent.
•Period of production had significant interactive effects with drinking water nitrate on percentage of dead embryos, and percentages of heterophils, lymphocytes and basophils, and finally on H:L ratio.
•Significant interactive effects for ammonia x period of production were reported on overall body weight of the broiler breeder flock, percentages of heterophils, lymphocytes, monocytes and H:L ratio.
•A significant three-way interactive effect was reported for both
ammoniax nitratex sex and nitratex period of productionx sex on body weight.
•A significant three-way interactive effect for nitratex ammoniax period of production was reported on daily water consumption of the broiler breeder flock.
Main effects for drinking water nitrate on semen quality parameters of broiler breeder cocks:
60-ppm drinking water nitrate was found to increase percentage of sperm- head abnormalities significantly. On the other hand live sperm percent dropped significantly at this level of drinking water nitrate.
No significant effect for drinking water nitrate was reported on semen volume, sperm motility (vigor), sperm concentration or sperm tail abnormalities.
♦ Main effects for drinking water ammonia on semen quality parameters of broiler breeder cocks:
•The only significant detrimental effect reported for drinking water-ammonia was on percentage of live sperm, which was significantly dropped by the consumption of 10-ppm additional drinking water ammonia.
♦ Main effects for heat stress on semen quality parameters of broiler breeder cocks:
•All of semen volume, live sperm percent, and both percentages of sperm-head and tail abnormalities were detrimentally affected by 3 days of heat stress (maximum of 36 C and a minimum of 24 C). One-week post stress was not enough for either percentage of live sperm or spenn-tail abnormalities to regain their normal figures prior to stress.
♦A significant detrimental interactive effect for drinking water nitratex heat stress was reported on percentage of live sperm.
In the second experiment a total of 120 day-old broiler chicks were used, birds were divided in a completely randomized design, with a factorial arrangement of treatments. 3 levels of parental water nitrate were used (0, 30, and 60 ppm) x 2 levels of chicks’ drinking water nitrate (0, and 60 ppm) x 2 levels of heat treatment (thermoneutral and heat stressed). All birds were challenged with 5000sporulated oocysts of Einteria tenella at 9 days of age.
♦Main effects for heat stress on performance of Etenella challenged broiler chicks:
•Heat stress was found to decrease all of daily feed consumption, daily body gain, oocyst output (7 days post challenge), final body weight (17 days old), and percent weight of bursa. On the other hand a significant increase was reported for daily water consumption due to heat stress.
•No significant effect was detected due to heat stress on any of the following parameters:
Feed conversion rate.
Differential leukocytic count and H:L ratio.
Cecal scores
Percent weight of thymus, spleen, and liver.
♦Main effects for parental drinking water nitrate on performance of E.ten ella challenged broiler chicks:
•60-ppm parental drinking water nitrate increased chicks’ daily water consumption significantly, and significantly reduced their oocyst output (7 days post challenge).
•No significant effect was reported for parental drinking water nitrate on any of the following parameters:
Daily feed consumption, body gain and feed conversion rate. Differential leukocytic count and H:L ratio.
Cecal scores, final body weight and percent weight of lymphatic organs.
♦Main effects for chicks’ drinking water nitrate on performance of E.tenella challenged broiler chicks:
•60-ppm additional drinking water nitrate increased eosinophil percent significantly. On the other hand a detrimental effect was reported for drinking water nitrate on percent weight of both liver and bursa of Fabricius. A highly significant reduction in oocyst output was also reported for 60-ppm additional drinking water nitrate.
•No significant effect was reported on any of other performance parameters due to chicks’ drinking water nitrate.
♦Main effects for days post Eimeria challenge on performance of _E.tenella challenged broiler chicks:
•A significant increase in both percentages of heterophils and monocytes, and H:L ratio were reported, while a significant reduction in both percentages of lymphocytes and basophils were reported 3 and 6 days post challenge.
♦Significant interactive effects for different combinations of stressors on performance of E.tenella challenged broiler chicks:
•A significant interactive effect was reported for each of heat stressx chicks’ drinking water nitrate, agex chicks’ drinking water nitrate, and agex heat stress on daily water consumption.
•Significant interactive effects for agex heat stress were reported on daily feed consumption, daily body gain, and daily feed conversion.
•A significant three-way interactive effect for parental drinking water nitratex chicks’ drinking water nitratex heat stress was reported on feed conversion rate.
•A significant interactive effect was reported for chicks’ drinking water nitrate x heat stressx age of birds on daily water consumption.
•Significant interactive effects were reported for parental drinking water nitratex chicks’ drinking water nitrate on both percentages of lymphocytes and heterophils, in addition to the H:L ratio.
•Significant interactive effects were reported for heat stressx days post Eimeria challenge on percentages of lymphocytes, heterophils and eosinophils, in addition to H:L ratio.
•A significant interactive effect was reported for chicks’ drinking water nitratex heat stress on percentage of monocytes. •A significant three-way interactive effect was reported for parental drinking water nitratex chicks’ thinking water nitratex days post
Eimeria challenge on monocyte percent.
•Significant three-way interactive effects were detected for chicks’
drinking water nitratex heat stress x days post Eimeria challenge on
both percentages of basophils and eosinophils.
•Significant three-way interactive effects were reported for parental
drinking water nitratex chicks’ drinking water nitratex heat stress on both percentages of heterophils and eosinophils, in addition to H:L
ratio.
•Significant interactive effects were reported for chicks’ drinking
water nitratex heat stress on percent weights of spleen, liver, and bursa Fabricius.
Some changes in blood cell structure and appearance, which indicate possible toxicity or increased leukocytic demand, were reported.
from all of the above mentioned results, the following may be
concluded:
•The effect of drinking water nitrate at the levels studied in this experiment had some beneficial in addition to their detrimental
effects.
•It seems that cocks are more susceptible to the detrimental effect of drinking water nitrate even at the levels used in this experiment, which may be far less than the levels reported by
some researchers in field trials. •It is very important in the study of nitrate to consider other stressors and their interactions with the drinking water nitrate, and also to consider presence of drinking water ammonia.
•Nitrate was found to have an important role in reducing oocyst output of Etenella challenged chicks, which is a promising point still needs more experimental work to be qualified and to study possible mode of action for the drinking water nitrate on oocyst output of Eimeria tenella infected chicks.