Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
ASIAN-AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF ANIMAL SCIENCES, cilt.21, sa.3, ss.426-433, 2008 (SCI-Expanded)
Heat stress is major welfare problem in the poultry industry. Huge economic losses occur every year because of mortality and decreased production due to high environmental temperatures. This experiment was conducted to determine the effects of level of inclusion of ascorbic acid supplementation to the diet on performance, carcass composition and bone characteristics of male turkeys during high summer temperature. A total of 120 day-old turkey chicks were wing banded at hatch and randomly distributed into 3 treatment groups. Three diets were formulated to provide a similar nutrient profile with the exception of using three graded levels of ascorbic acid, namely 0, 150 and 300 mg/kg of the diet. The experimental diets were used from 0 to 18 weeks of age. Body weights, feed intake and feed conversion ratio, slaughter weight, carcass yield, portions, composition and thigh and breast pigmentation of the turkeys were not affected by ascorbic acid (p>0.05). Also, shank and tibia bone characteristics were not affected by ascorbic (p>0.05).