The Effect of House Temperature on Feed Consumption and Blood Component of Broilers

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to evaluate the effect of house temperature on feed consumption and blood component of broilers. The research used 140 male broilers of 2 weeks of age. The treatments consisted of 5 that were S1A (28,55  1,53 0 C) with ad libitum of feeding, S1BT1 (28,55  1,53 0 C) with pair feeding as S2A, S1BT2 (28,55  1,53 0 C) with pair feeding as S3A, S2A (31,07  1,29 0 C) with ad libitum of feeding and S3A (33,50  1,17 0 C) with ad libitum of feeding. Variables were measusured at 4 and 6 weeks of age. Variables measured were feed consumptoin, erythrocyte, hemoglobin, hematocrit and leukocyte levels. The experiment design used was a completely randomized design with 5 treatments and 4 replica-tions and continued by Duncan's Multiple Range test when it was significantly different. The result indicated that in 4 and 6 weeks of age, feed consumption and amount of erithrocyte in S1A, higher than in S2A and S3A. In 4 weeks of age, the hematocrite and leucosyte in S1A was higher than those in S2A and S3A. The restricted feeding tended to decrease the erythrocyte and hematocrit. Keywords: Heat Stress, Erythrocyte, Hematocrit, Hemoglobin, Leucocyte, Broiler.