Dietary fish meal and the incidence of sudden death syndrome in broiler chickens

Graduation date: 1990Five experiments were conducted to investigate the\ud effect of dietary fish meal on the incidence of Sudden Death\ud Syndrome (SDS) in broiler chickens. Growth, feed\ud efficiency, total mortality and mortality due to SDS were\ud evaluated. Necropsy examination was performed on broilers\ud suspected of dying from SDS. Liver lipid and fatty acid\ud composition of liver lipid were analyzed to investigate the\ud possible biochemical changes occurred in SDS broilers.\ud Typical characteristics of SDS broilers were defined\ud (Exp. 1-5). The male broilers were more susceptible to SDS\ud than were females. Peak mortality was observed between 2-4\ud weeks of age. Body weight, feed conversion and total\ud mortality were not affected by dietary inclusion of varied\ud levels and types of fish meal (Exp. 1-5), except for Exp. 5\ud where broilers fed the diet containing 2.5% fish meal had\ud higher body weight compared to broilers fed corn-soy diet. The effect of dietary treatments on mortality due to\ud SDS was not consistent (Exp. 1-5). The incidence of SDS was\ud similar for broilers fed diets containing 0 or 2.75% herring\ud meal (Exp. 1). The amount of the dietary herring meal (0,\ud 2.75 and 10%) did not affect mortality due to SDS.\ud Different types of fish meal had different effects on the\ud occurrence of SDS (Exp. 3). Variation in the incidence of\ud SDS was not significant among broiler chicken strain crosses\ud (Exp. 4). Additional biotin up to 500 ug/kg did not reduce\ud the incidence due to SDS and dietary ASA at 0.2% increased\ud mortality due to SDS (Exp. 5)\ud Liver lipid was similar between non-SDS and SDS\ud broilers (Exp. 1-5). An elevated level of oleic acid and a\ud decreased level of arachidonic acid were consistently\ud observed in the liver lipids of SDS broilers (Exp. 1-5).\ud Arachidonic acid is the direct precursor of prostaglandins\ud which are involved in many physiological processes. Thus, a\ud possible interrelationship among lipid metabolism,\ud prostaglandins and SDS is suggested