Abstract

As the body temperature of birds rise, feed consumption, growth rate, feed efficiency, survivability, egg production and egg quality tends to decline. In order to address the problem of heat stress, an experiment was conducted to determine the effect of AV/LAP/19 liquid (Supplied by M/s Ayurvet Ltd. Baddi, HP, India) containing natural vitamin C with bioflavonoids and selenium, and synthetic ascorbic-acid (vitamin C) supplementation on the performance of commercial layers. 120 birds, 55 weeks of age were divided into 4 equal groups of 30 birds each. They were exposed to a heat stress of 39±8°C temperature and temperature humidity index (THI) of 81.33±1.20. All bird groups were offered basal diet deficient in vitamin C. Negative effect of high ambient temperature and relative humidity was evidenced from the high serum cortisol level (mg/L) (3.42±0.19 to 3.67±0.20) in all groups. It was significantly optimized and lowered down in all treated groups. Concomitantly, increased alkaline phosphatase and alkaline transaminase levels were also lowered in treated birds. The total protein, albumin and globulin were having numerically higher levels in treated birds. It was concluded that the herbal liquid AV/LAP/19 at both dosages ameliorated the heat stress in layer birds as well as resulted in better feed efficiency and immunomodulation. However, significantly better egg production (%) was recorded in the birds supplemented with AV/LAP/19.

Key words: AV/LAP/19, heat stress, herbal products, egg production, vitamin C.