Abstract:

The tolerance of broilers to dietary sodium dehydroacetate as an antimildew agent was studied in order to provide
valuable references establishing its maximum safe dose in food and feed and evaluating its safety. Totally 240 Arbor Acres
(AA) broilers were randomly divided into 4 groups with 6 replicates in each group, fed with basal diet (CON), and basal diet
supplemented with 200 mg/kg (TES1), 1 000 mg/kg (TES2) and 2 000 mg/kg (TES3) sodium Dehydroacetate, respectively.
The growth performance and serum biochemical indicators of broilers were measured. Results showed: 1) during the early
growth stage, average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily gain (ADG), average body weight (ABW), and feed efficiency
(FE) of TES3 group were significantly or highly significantly lower than those of other groups (P < 0.05 or 0.01), and TES2
group presented significantly lower ADG and ABW than CON and TES1 groups (P < 0.05); during the later growth stage,
ADFI and ADG of TES3 group were significantly reduced when compared with other groups (P < 0.05); 2) the number of
white blood cells (WBCs) in TES2 and TES3 groups were significantly higher than in CON and TES1 groups (P < 0.05)
during the later growth stage; 3) compared with CON group, the level of serum albumin in TES2 group was significantly
decreased at the later growth stage, and TES2 group exhibited a significant reduction in serum aspartic aminotransferase
concentration and a significant increase in serum creatinine concentration (P < 0.05) in comparison to TES1 group. These
results suggest that 2 000 mg/kg sodium dehydroacetate may negatively influence the growth performance and metabolism
of broilers and cause renal dysfunction.

Key words: sodium dehydroacetate, Arbor Acres (AA) broiler, growing performance, serum biochemical indicators