Physiological Responses of Corticosteroid, Dexamethasone in Broiler Chicken

The synthetic corticosteroids, dexamethasone (DEX) are widely used in veterinary medicine. Their illicit use as a growth promoter in fattening is well known in animal. The illegal uses of the growth promoters and its residues present in food producing animals may have potential risk for the human health. The present study is aimed to observe the effects of DEX in blood profile of broiler chicken. Ninety COBB 500 broilers were divided into control, experimental group A and B. The control, group A and B were maintained with homemade ration, commercial broiler type ration and homemade ration with DEX (7mg/kg feed) respectively in their diets. The percentage of hemoglobin concentration, packed cell volume (PCV), differential leukocyte count (DLC), total erythrocyte count (TEC), productive performance (body weight, dress body weight, feed intake) were investigated at days 7, 14, 21, 28 in broilers. The weight gain and dressed weight of broilers receiving DEX in their diets was significantly lower than that of the control and group 1 on day 14, 21 and 28 (p