TOXICOPATHOLOGICAL STUDIES OF MELAMINE IN BROILER CHICKS
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Date
2012
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AAU, Anand
Abstract
The present research work was conducted on four groups of day old Cobb-400 broiler chicks to study the toxicopathological effects of melamine in feed. Groups II, III and IV were fed with diet containing melamine @ 1000 mg/kg, 2500 mg/kg and 5000 mg/kg respectively for 21 days. Group I was kept as control. Clinical signs, mortality, feed intake, weight gain, FCR, serum biochemical and pathomorphological studies were done. Clinical signs viz. dullness, depression, anorexia, unthriftiness with ruffled feather, drooping of the wings and lethargy with shrunken eyes were noticed in birds of treatment groups III and IV only. Mortality was observed only in group FV (16%) and group III (4%) with 60% male and 40%) female. A dose dependent reduction in body weight was observed in the treatment groups III and IV only. There was no difference in feed intake and Kidney : Body weight ratio in birds between control and the treatment groups. Melamine in feed caused reduced feed efficiency which was dose dependent. The plasma uric acid, creatinine and BUN values were significantly increased in treatment group III whereas, highly significantly increased in group IV. The broiler chicks exposed to graded levels of dietary melamine revealed dose dependant pathological changes in groups III and IV only with lesions in kidneys, liver and gall bladder. Grossly, kidneys from dead birds showed enlargement with distended tubules filled with melamine-uric acid crystals. Microscopically, kidneys revealed congestion, haemorrhage, degeneration, necrosis, cystic dilatation of renal tubules, glomerular atrophy, proteinaceous casts and deposition of melamine-uric acid crystals of variable size. Gall bladder of birds from group IV that died during experiment was distended with opaque, turbid and murky bile with yellowish-white melamine crystals. Wet mounts of bile from birds of group IV showed "fan shaped" melamine crystals. It was concluded that melamine in the broiler feed @ 2500 mg/kg or more is nephrotoxic.
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VETERINARY PATHOLOGY, A STUDY