The objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of varying levels of chromium propionate on blood biochemistry and growth performance of broilers (1-35 days). Five diets were formulated by using chromium propionate with inclusion levels of 0, 200, 400, 800 and 1600 ppb. A total of 300 broilers were divided into 5 groups with 6 replicates of 10 birds in each under completely randomized design. The starter feed intake remained unaffected (p > 0.05) whereas finisher and overall feed intake was different (p < 0.05) among different experimental groups. Feed conversion ratio and weight gain in starter, finisher and overall improved significantly (p < 0.05) with the increasing levels of chromium propionate. Blood glucose was decreased (p < 0.05) with increasing dietary chromium level. Chromium supplementation did not affect antibodies titers against NDV and AIV-H9. Neither live, hilal, after skin removal, eviscerated, chest weight and legs with shanks weight nor liver and heart weights were affected (p > 0.05) while gizzard weight reduced significantly (p < 0.05) due to supplementation of chromium. On the basis of results, it may be concluded that chromium propionate supplementation improved weight gain and FCR and reduced blood glucose. However, better performance and weight gain may be achieved if chromium propionate is added at the rate of 400 ppb in broiler diets.
Keywords: blood; broilers; carcass; chromium propionate; growth; immunity.